We arrived in Kyoto early in the evening of Wednesday. We had left Koyasan earlier that day and taken the train to Osaka, where we ate lunch. We didn’t tarry long at Osaka; we took the Shinkansen to Kyoto, which got us there in only 15 minutes.

Kyoto Station was a massive building of steel and concrete, that was home to several department stores and restaurants. We took the bus to the ryokan where we would stay – it was 40-minutes away. We checked in and decided to call it wraps for the evening since most of the sights would be closed and moreover, we were a ways from the city.

On Thursday, we rose early and took the bus to Kyoto station. Kyoto station was our base for the next couple days. We were on a whirlwind tour of Kyoto since we were only here for two days and there was a lot of ground to cover. We ate breakfast (yummy chocolate croissants!) at a little cafe outside Kyoto station – this also became our standard breakfast spot for the next couple days

Kyoto is a city with a lot of history behind it – lots of temples and historic buildings. Our first stop for the day was Kiyomizudera, one of the oldest Buddhist temples in Kyoto. The pagoda was an impressive sight towering over the city of Kyoto. There were platforms where visitors could get sweeping views of the city.

After having walked around a little bit, we headed toward our next stop – the Kyoto Imperial Palace. The palace was home to the Emperor until the capital was moved to Tokyo. There is an official guided tour of the palace that is given to tourists twice a day – you had to fill out a form and present your passport at the Imperial Household Agency inside the palace grounds. We made it to the palace just in time to show our documents and line up for the tour.

The tour took us around the outside of the palace – tourists were not allowed inside the palace out of concern for damage to the historical buildings. There were several buildings in the palace, each serving different purposes. The notable thing was that the rooms in each building all had very high ceilings and were very well ventilated. There were no heating arrangements whatsoever – the buildings were all built for a comfortable stay during the summer, the logic being that you could bundle up in clothing during the winter but it would be hard to keep cool during the summer! Many of the walls were painted vermillion – the color is said to ward off evil. The gardens in the palace were exquisitely maintained – very serene and calming, inspite of all us cackling tourists

At the end of the tour, we decided to take a break for lunch. We had been eating udon and yakisoba for a while now and it was getting a little monotonous. So, we decided to eat at a McDonalds that we spotted nearby. We almost never eat at McDonalds and I, for one, never thought I would eat at McDonalds to break the monotony! Well, that’s what being in a country with unfamiliar food does to you, I suppose

After the burger-and-fries break, we headed to Nijo castle. Nijo castle used to be the residence of the Tokugawa Shoguns. It was a fortified structure that had been through fires and reconstructions in the 18th and 19th century before being opened up to the public in the 1930s. One of the palaces – the Ninomaru palace was open to visitors. We rented an audio tour headset and guided ourselves through the palace. The entrance to the palace was made of wood embellished with gold. The palace was surrounded by thick walls and a moat. The palace itself had several rooms lined with tatami mats and decorated with paintings by artists of the era.

After our self-guided tour of Nijo castle, our next stop was Ginkakuji or the silver pavilion. Sadly for us, the temple was being renovated. However, the gardens were beautiful and we spent sometime walking through them.

By this time, we had had quite enough of temples and castles for one day So, we decided to change our focus for a bit. We headed to Gion, which is the Geisha district of Kyoto, in the hopes of catching a glimpse of one of a geisha or a maiko. We did catch sight of one of them by accident, as we walked along the streets near Gion. She was very well-dressed and seemed to be running off on an errand. Gion seemed to be a popular shopping district. There were tons of shops and shoppers in the area. A short walk away was Nishiki-koji, Kyoto’s famous covered food market. There was all kinds of food being sold there – from seafood to produce to freshly made snacks and sweets. We sampled some of the snacks and they were quite yummy!

We were quite tired and wanted to eat dinner before hitting the sack. We headed to Kyoto station and ate at one of the okonomiyaki places there. After a satisfying meal, we waited outside Kyoto station for the bus that would take us back to the ryokan. An elderly Japanese gentleman and his lady stopped to say ‘Hello’ and inquire where we were from. On hearing that we had traveled from the US, the gentleman told us he had lived in the Seattle and San Francisco areas for a few years. He introduced us to his wife and was quite pleased when we greeted her in Japanese ! Our bus arrived in a few minutes and we were in zzzzland within the hour!