Day 11 Kyoto

I – Caroline, have a disgusting cold and feel like crap – FYI, but in the British spirit, kept calm and carried on (with the help of cold meds and massive quantities of tissues!). Thankfully John seems to be OK.

The only redeeming featuring about this hotel is that they have cheap and efficient laundry machines which we used last night while updating the blog and having a picnic of to go sashimi and real fresh fruit bought at a local grocery store without having to take out a loan!

As we are repeating this now – the picnic part that is, the lobby has just been invaded by suited business like young #Japanese.  Actually they look like school kids.

The breakfast was terrible, so we’ve bought our own supplies for tomorrow morning.

The tour today was very poorly organized, and the tour guide completely confused and inept.  It was one of those – ‘everyone on the bus ‘, rush around the castle and back on the bus and onto the next site to repeat the process.  Cattle herding with a deficient shepherd.

The first stop was the #NijoCastle, but as it was another shoes off experience, which John declined as he can’t walk easily barefoot, I also abstained, but instead we had a nice 40 minute stroll around the castle gardens which was lovely, and peaceful.  According to the Quebecois (who were with us this morning), it was beautifully restored but they were just rushed through!

Next stop was the #Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion) Temple.  Mobbed, apparently high season due to the short period of time that the cherry blossoms in bloom.  Worse than a free day at Disney!  Still, we ambled along with the crowd stopping to take pics – OMG – everyone under 40 has a narcissistic stick, posing away with the cherry blossoms and golden pavilion! Then, back on the bus and off to the #KyotoImperial Palace, where its was crucial to arrive at a specific time along with 6 other buses!

Tour ended around lunchtime.  Really bad planning by our travel agency as we are in #Kyoto until Friday afternoon, and they’ve only given us a half day tour.  We should have spotted that on the 64 page itinerary, but oh well.

Spent the afternoon wandering around the city, to Umekoji Park , where it must have been spring break as it was mobbed! The a brief stop at the #TojiTemple where the famous 5 tier pagoda is and then back to the hotel and grocery store to have another marvelous picnic of sashimi and fruit.

#japan