“Don’t skip Kyoto!” everyone said. Okay! Here we are!
We had a lovely week here. Mostly. The danger with “don’t miss” places is that everyone else isn’t missing it either. So we did have some instances of “so many, too many, people” (looking at you, Temple of the Golden Pavilion). But in general, we’re good at getting off the beaten path.
Like this mountain temple Jingo-ji, whose number of steps to approach I couldn’t even count. But where we got to throw our troubles off the cliff in clay disks, and hike along a peaceful river and through magical forests beside waterfalls.
And random things, like the train museum (where we got to go underneath a train and look up!). And the gardens surrounding the Imperial Palace (which we expected to be busy but was the opposite). And a bamboo forest next to the mossy statue-rich Adashino Nenbutsuji. And all the mossy statues at the temple!
Of course we did the things we were “supposed to” as well. Like Team Lab (an immersive modern art exhibition) where we stumbled through dark hallways into soapy foam clouds and across multicolored squishy mounds and amongst glowing crystal stalagmites and, in one case, had to don galoshes to wade through molten gold. And shrines like Ryoan-ji with its centuries-old rock garden. And the Nijo castle with its palaces and moats.
And we ate good things. Like okonomiyaki pancakes that we ate straight off the griddled tabletop. And conveyor belt sushi where we got to snatch little plates (all for 150 yen) as they marched past.
Our apartment was fabulous. Just at the base of the hill-top Kenkun shrine, with bicycles and umbrellas for us to use at will (which we did, both).
Yes, we are glad we didn’t miss Kyoto! We’ll see what Nagoya holds for us next!
Magrilless 