Friday, July 18th: Headed to Kyoto (A dream come true)

I didn't do terribly much today in anticipation of Kyoto. My dogs are worn out as my parents might say! My feet are killing me, in other words, from walking around all the time for hours a day. And I know we will be walking nonstop all weekend, so I took it easy today and just looked through Mitsukoshi. Mitsukoshi is huge. At first, I got lost and wound up outside between the big store and the annex. Apparently, it spans two buildings! I think the annex is the super fancy part. There is even an art gallery on the top floor. There is a half floor dedicated to kimono and another floor for housewares. It was fun, but I was really just biding time until we hop on the bullet train and speed towards Kyoto!

The bullet train is very nice and super fast at 200 miles per hour. We boarded at Tokyo station at 6:35pm, the train left at exactly 6:40pm (on the dot, as per the departure time on our tickets), and arrived just after eight. The bullet trains come about every twenty minutes and are always, always on time to the minute. It was very relaxing, but I look forward to the trip back when I can see out the window to the countryside. Still, a vendor came through the aisles with beers and snacks, so it was a nice for S and I to have two hours just to relax, catch up, have a beer and do nothing but talk or nap.



We are staying at the Westin Miyako Kyoto, which is close enough for us to walk to Gion- my number one destination! Once we got settled, we headed to dinner and had our first bottle of Japanese wine.

I don't know a whole lot about wine, but it was fun to have some from Japan! The restaurant at the Westin had a lot of Americans in it. I think it caters to a lot of tours; there were some large buses in the parking lot. Both Stefan and I were so surprised at how loud the Americans seemed after spending so much time in Japan! It is so much quieter here, and you can actually hear yourself in restaurants or on the subway, so the loud laughter and talking in the restaurant came as a surprise to us both.

The food was nothing to write home about and we each had the curry dinner because it seemed like either that or burgers. I have to say, the soup was the best part- it was some sort of squash.

And S bravely ate what I thought was going to be a searing hot Thai red pepper- but turns out it was not, thankfully!




Then it was off to bed so that we can tackle a full day in Kyoto tomorrow! I can't wait! Ever since reading Memoirs of a Geisha, I have wanted to see Kyoto and Gion. So, finally, tomorrow, I will be walking in Gion myself and hopefully even see a geisha or two!