Spontaneous trip to Japan
Aug 25th, 2016, 03:54 PM
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Spontaneous trip to Japan
Many thanks to the Fodorites who stepped up to the challenge of guiding me through my spontaneous trip to Japan! For those unfamiliar, my college-age daughter and I spent 3.5 weeks in Ecuador (mostly in the Galapagos Islands) and when we arrived home in early July, started planning our next trip. Thanksgiving week turned into “we have three weeks of summer before work starts again” and we set our sights on daughter’s dream destination: Japan.
Aug 25th, 2016, 03:56 PM
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Not wanting to step on my hubby’s toes (he’s wanted to go to Japan forever, too, and is recently back to work after a work injury), we looked at Hong Kong and Beijing before he insisted that we visit Japan. The Flight Deal delivers great airfares to my Facebook page, and I knew that there were great fares to Tokyo from San Francisco and other locations. On a whim, I entered in travel dates for August 1 for two weeks; a site mentioned a much better fare departing on July 28. This is how we arrived at a departure date just three days after booking the tickets.
Happily, we have friends with family members who live in Tokyo, as well as other friends who previously lived there. We tapped our network and got to work. Thanks to kja and her suggestion to visit japan-guide.com, I reviewed popular landmarks with my daughter and we had a list of places that we would like to see. Tokyo and Kyoto were high on the list; Hiroshima and Miyajima, close behind. I read trip reports and decided to visit Kyoto first.
I initially booked Citadines based on forum reviews but when I looked at Google Earth’s street view, it didn’t seem very tourist-friendly. By the time that I waffled and canceled the reservation twice, Kavey’s favorite, Kyoto Royal Hotel & Spa (subway and bus line so conveniently located!) didn’t have a room for our first two nights. I had to eat one night of hotel accommodation (canceled too late!) but changing hotels is not my favorite thing to do. First casualty of the tight timeline. In the meantime, I booked the Royal Hotel (that’s what it said on my map!) and decided to spend a couple of days in Tokyo.
But where to stay? Back to Japan-Guide.com, where we were able to pick a list of destinations that appealed to us. I plugged the locations into Google Earth and then saw that the majority of them were near Shibuya station. I settled on the last room available at Shibuya Excel Hotel Tokyu. Close to a train station, close to the Yamanote line, and it was only 2 days before we headed to Kyoto.
Somewhere in the middle of that hullabaloo, I was asking questions about getting a Japan Rail pass. Having no idea of where we would be going (at the time), I decided to go with the 14-day day pass. In hindsight, we may have saved money by buying individual tickets, but we had no idea what would unfold after Kyoto. Next time I might not spring for the Green car; there were plenty of seats for us and we were the only people throwing our luggage up on the racks. Most people just put them in front of other seats and moved them if passengers turned up.
Next question: cell phone data or wifi? I talked with Verizon and was worried that we would exceed the usage, so I ordered a wifi device from CD Japan. In my haste, I entered the wrong arrival date, so it was not waiting for me at the airport post office when we arrived. Casualty #2. It was delivered to our hotel in Kyoto by overnight mail, so all was well eventually. I was very impressed by their responsiveness during the weekend due to my error. Highly recommended.
Our flight was via Air Canada with a layover in Vancouver. Thrilled to be traveling “light,” I was shocked when the gate agent confiscated my carry on suitcase as too big and too heavy. (During our previous couple of trips to South America, we had to check our luggage because we were carrying books to a school library.) Those pesky perceptions! My daughter saw a different gate agent and kept her bag. We had an uneventful flight to Vancouver, kept ourselves entertained during the layover by playing Pokemon Go, and took off for Narita.
When we arrived, we first visited the airport post office (where no wifi package was waiting). We looked at the JR line and decided quickly that taking the limousine bus (leaving in about 10 minutes) was preferable. On the bus and rambling along, we were among the few passengers who didn’t fall asleep. We pulled into our hotel, checked in, and headed to our rooms. Daughter said “mom, you should see all the lures! (in Pokemon Go.) LOL We unpacked, settled down, and caught Pokemon until we drifted to sleep
Happily, we have friends with family members who live in Tokyo, as well as other friends who previously lived there. We tapped our network and got to work. Thanks to kja and her suggestion to visit japan-guide.com, I reviewed popular landmarks with my daughter and we had a list of places that we would like to see. Tokyo and Kyoto were high on the list; Hiroshima and Miyajima, close behind. I read trip reports and decided to visit Kyoto first.
I initially booked Citadines based on forum reviews but when I looked at Google Earth’s street view, it didn’t seem very tourist-friendly. By the time that I waffled and canceled the reservation twice, Kavey’s favorite, Kyoto Royal Hotel & Spa (subway and bus line so conveniently located!) didn’t have a room for our first two nights. I had to eat one night of hotel accommodation (canceled too late!) but changing hotels is not my favorite thing to do. First casualty of the tight timeline. In the meantime, I booked the Royal Hotel (that’s what it said on my map!) and decided to spend a couple of days in Tokyo.
But where to stay? Back to Japan-Guide.com, where we were able to pick a list of destinations that appealed to us. I plugged the locations into Google Earth and then saw that the majority of them were near Shibuya station. I settled on the last room available at Shibuya Excel Hotel Tokyu. Close to a train station, close to the Yamanote line, and it was only 2 days before we headed to Kyoto.
Somewhere in the middle of that hullabaloo, I was asking questions about getting a Japan Rail pass. Having no idea of where we would be going (at the time), I decided to go with the 14-day day pass. In hindsight, we may have saved money by buying individual tickets, but we had no idea what would unfold after Kyoto. Next time I might not spring for the Green car; there were plenty of seats for us and we were the only people throwing our luggage up on the racks. Most people just put them in front of other seats and moved them if passengers turned up.
Next question: cell phone data or wifi? I talked with Verizon and was worried that we would exceed the usage, so I ordered a wifi device from CD Japan. In my haste, I entered the wrong arrival date, so it was not waiting for me at the airport post office when we arrived. Casualty #2. It was delivered to our hotel in Kyoto by overnight mail, so all was well eventually. I was very impressed by their responsiveness during the weekend due to my error. Highly recommended.
Our flight was via Air Canada with a layover in Vancouver. Thrilled to be traveling “light,” I was shocked when the gate agent confiscated my carry on suitcase as too big and too heavy. (During our previous couple of trips to South America, we had to check our luggage because we were carrying books to a school library.) Those pesky perceptions! My daughter saw a different gate agent and kept her bag. We had an uneventful flight to Vancouver, kept ourselves entertained during the layover by playing Pokemon Go, and took off for Narita.
When we arrived, we first visited the airport post office (where no wifi package was waiting). We looked at the JR line and decided quickly that taking the limousine bus (leaving in about 10 minutes) was preferable. On the bus and rambling along, we were among the few passengers who didn’t fall asleep. We pulled into our hotel, checked in, and headed to our rooms. Daughter said “mom, you should see all the lures! (in Pokemon Go.) LOL We unpacked, settled down, and caught Pokemon until we drifted to sleep
Aug 26th, 2016, 03:33 AM
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Eagerly awaiting to hear the rest of your travel stories.
Just want to clarify one thing, at Narita airport there is kiosk that sells train tickets, and then there is the "JR East Travel Service Center" that sells train tickets as well as exchange JR voucher to JR Pass. If one must purchase a train ticket while at NRT, then check both places to see which line moves faster.
Just want to clarify one thing, at Narita airport there is kiosk that sells train tickets, and then there is the "JR East Travel Service Center" that sells train tickets as well as exchange JR voucher to JR Pass. If one must purchase a train ticket while at NRT, then check both places to see which line moves faster.
Aug 30th, 2016, 04:19 PM
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Kja… I’m sincere when I thank you and others for your help. Your advice was spot on and was a big shortcut for me, especially with the limited amount of time for planning.
Reading54… Thank you for clarifying my clumsy errors. Traveling in a country without the same alphabet was bewildering. Thank goodness the train stations used western wording but it was a case of culture shock. I can usually read the signs but in Japan, there are so many opportunities for confusion. Happily, the Japanese people are so friendly, open, and helpful, that we never got “too” lost.
Kavey… Thank you, I can’t wait to write more! What an amazing experience and I will be honest, it’s through the posters at Fodors that I had the confidence take the trip without much planning time.
MmePerdu... You flatter me! I’ve learned much from you over the years (long-time lurker.) I do hope you visit Japan, perhaps with more planning than I’ve taken. It was delightful!
Jet lag woke me up surprisingly early, so by the time my daughter woke, I was ready to explore. (She politely declined when I suggest we go for a walk at 2 a.m.) We were up and out by 7:30 a.m. Exiting the hotel at the entrance of Mark City Shopping Center (across the street from Shibuya Station), I was surprised by all the trash and debris piled up on the street. There wasn’t a waste bin in sight, and this intersection is heavily traveled every day. At around 8 a.m., an army of workers came to clean the area and it was spotless in less than 20 minutes.
We stopped at Starbucks for our morning beverage and watched the Shibuya Scramble from the second story viewpoint. Eventually we emerged, paid tribute to Hachiko in front of Shibuya station, and searched for the Japan Rail Pass Exchange Office. It’s outside of the train station, around a couple of corners. People were very helpful and answered our questions on maps with gestures and we were soon there. It’s a small desk and one person was helping a tour operator with 20 passports, so I would recommend getting there when it opens for the day if you can.
Next up was trying to find an alternative source for portable wifi, since I’d messed up the order and hadn’t yet discovered the excellent service provided by CD Japan. Suffice to say that it was a fools’ errand, and we were very pleased to learn that our device would be delivered the following morning, when we were able to check email later in the afternoon. We also tried to order tickets to the Ghibli Museum at Lawson’s but no luck there. It’s been sold out for months and we had a backup plan: there’s a Ghibli exhibit at Roppongi Hills (more on this later.)
We took the Yamanote line with our shiny new JR passes to Ikebukuro Station to visit our next stop: Sunshine City’s Pokemon Center. Laugh! I did! When traveling with a teenager, keep the teenager awake, fed, and happy. That task completed (the less said, the better!), we returned to our hotel room to rest a bit before our food tour at 5 p.m.
I sincerely wonder if all the above is just filler, when the best bit of the day is coming up.
We headed to Ebisu Station for our Oishii Food Tour early, arrive at 4:30 for our 5:00 p.m. “date.” The station was festooned with pink lanterns everywhere and we enjoyed the cool breeze awaiting Yu-ki. I sent a message to say we’d arrived, because we weren’t well oriented with the mass transit yet and there were several exits nearby. A few minutes before 5, Yu-ki arrived, saying that others in our group hadn’t confirmed their reservations, so we had her to ourselves.
Yu-ki whisked us off to our first stop, where we had yakitori: chicken thighs and pork temples. Delicious! (Sorry; with the difference in language, I have no idea where we were other than near Ebisu Station… the signs were understandably in kanji. It becomes kind of vague here as I can’t read the kanji but I’ll do my best!)
Next we stopped in for sashimi. We started with 5 types of sashimi; I know one of them was mackerel (my favorite). I will point out here that I was not skilled with chopsticks (although daughter is a pro) and I was focusing on getting food to mouth! We also had sake tasting: dry, mild, and sweet. Daughter was 18 so had a sip of mine; all three were delicious. As an alternative to alcoholic beverages, she was served juices. Last bites at the second place (oh how I wish I read Japanese characters!) we observed the chef as he prepared sashimi “on the fin”. Scooping the fish out of the tank and preparing it in about3 minutes. Very fresh, and my daughter’s favorite sashimi of the day.
We walked back to Ebisu station where we watched families celebrate Bon Odori. There was a big Yagura stage with taiko drums and children leading the dance. It was enchanting to watch all of the families in yakuta (summer kimonos) dancing! Such a lucky time to be there!
Next we went to a local hangout… a city block long and maybe 60 feet wide. Lots of little restaurants inside were people were eating and drinking. We arrived at our location and our guide looked in the kitchen for the cooks (we were late due to the festival.) We were their first customers of the night. Evidently they had been waiting for the other guests who had failed to respond.
The place was stifling. All of the cooking heat, none of the air conditioning. Lots of people celebrating the weekend. This wasn’t a problem for my daughter. My age and girth have caught up with me. The food was good; we started with manta ray, next had mushrooms, but by the time the okonomiyaki arrived, we were stuffed to the gills. Oops! Still two stops left on the tour! We did our best to be polite and have a bite or two, but I was glad to escape to the alleyway behind the building.
Our next stop: Afuri Harajuki (that sign was in English too!) I honestly didn’t think I had room in me for another bite, but my daughter and I shared a bowl of their delicious ramen with yuzu. Yu-ki ordered our bowl and then bowed out, as she was stuffed too and not ordering. In such a small place, I’m sure that it was appreciated.
Our last stop of the night was for sorbet. Tomato sorbet paired with watermelon was delicious. We bid adieu to Yu-ki, and headed back to our home away from home.
Reading54… Thank you for clarifying my clumsy errors. Traveling in a country without the same alphabet was bewildering. Thank goodness the train stations used western wording but it was a case of culture shock. I can usually read the signs but in Japan, there are so many opportunities for confusion. Happily, the Japanese people are so friendly, open, and helpful, that we never got “too” lost.
Kavey… Thank you, I can’t wait to write more! What an amazing experience and I will be honest, it’s through the posters at Fodors that I had the confidence take the trip without much planning time.
MmePerdu... You flatter me! I’ve learned much from you over the years (long-time lurker.) I do hope you visit Japan, perhaps with more planning than I’ve taken. It was delightful!
Jet lag woke me up surprisingly early, so by the time my daughter woke, I was ready to explore. (She politely declined when I suggest we go for a walk at 2 a.m.) We were up and out by 7:30 a.m. Exiting the hotel at the entrance of Mark City Shopping Center (across the street from Shibuya Station), I was surprised by all the trash and debris piled up on the street. There wasn’t a waste bin in sight, and this intersection is heavily traveled every day. At around 8 a.m., an army of workers came to clean the area and it was spotless in less than 20 minutes.
We stopped at Starbucks for our morning beverage and watched the Shibuya Scramble from the second story viewpoint. Eventually we emerged, paid tribute to Hachiko in front of Shibuya station, and searched for the Japan Rail Pass Exchange Office. It’s outside of the train station, around a couple of corners. People were very helpful and answered our questions on maps with gestures and we were soon there. It’s a small desk and one person was helping a tour operator with 20 passports, so I would recommend getting there when it opens for the day if you can.
Next up was trying to find an alternative source for portable wifi, since I’d messed up the order and hadn’t yet discovered the excellent service provided by CD Japan. Suffice to say that it was a fools’ errand, and we were very pleased to learn that our device would be delivered the following morning, when we were able to check email later in the afternoon. We also tried to order tickets to the Ghibli Museum at Lawson’s but no luck there. It’s been sold out for months and we had a backup plan: there’s a Ghibli exhibit at Roppongi Hills (more on this later.)
We took the Yamanote line with our shiny new JR passes to Ikebukuro Station to visit our next stop: Sunshine City’s Pokemon Center. Laugh! I did! When traveling with a teenager, keep the teenager awake, fed, and happy. That task completed (the less said, the better!), we returned to our hotel room to rest a bit before our food tour at 5 p.m.
I sincerely wonder if all the above is just filler, when the best bit of the day is coming up.
We headed to Ebisu Station for our Oishii Food Tour early, arrive at 4:30 for our 5:00 p.m. “date.” The station was festooned with pink lanterns everywhere and we enjoyed the cool breeze awaiting Yu-ki. I sent a message to say we’d arrived, because we weren’t well oriented with the mass transit yet and there were several exits nearby. A few minutes before 5, Yu-ki arrived, saying that others in our group hadn’t confirmed their reservations, so we had her to ourselves.
Yu-ki whisked us off to our first stop, where we had yakitori: chicken thighs and pork temples. Delicious! (Sorry; with the difference in language, I have no idea where we were other than near Ebisu Station… the signs were understandably in kanji. It becomes kind of vague here as I can’t read the kanji but I’ll do my best!)
Next we stopped in for sashimi. We started with 5 types of sashimi; I know one of them was mackerel (my favorite). I will point out here that I was not skilled with chopsticks (although daughter is a pro) and I was focusing on getting food to mouth! We also had sake tasting: dry, mild, and sweet. Daughter was 18 so had a sip of mine; all three were delicious. As an alternative to alcoholic beverages, she was served juices. Last bites at the second place (oh how I wish I read Japanese characters!) we observed the chef as he prepared sashimi “on the fin”. Scooping the fish out of the tank and preparing it in about3 minutes. Very fresh, and my daughter’s favorite sashimi of the day.
We walked back to Ebisu station where we watched families celebrate Bon Odori. There was a big Yagura stage with taiko drums and children leading the dance. It was enchanting to watch all of the families in yakuta (summer kimonos) dancing! Such a lucky time to be there!
Next we went to a local hangout… a city block long and maybe 60 feet wide. Lots of little restaurants inside were people were eating and drinking. We arrived at our location and our guide looked in the kitchen for the cooks (we were late due to the festival.) We were their first customers of the night. Evidently they had been waiting for the other guests who had failed to respond.
The place was stifling. All of the cooking heat, none of the air conditioning. Lots of people celebrating the weekend. This wasn’t a problem for my daughter. My age and girth have caught up with me. The food was good; we started with manta ray, next had mushrooms, but by the time the okonomiyaki arrived, we were stuffed to the gills. Oops! Still two stops left on the tour! We did our best to be polite and have a bite or two, but I was glad to escape to the alleyway behind the building.
Our next stop: Afuri Harajuki (that sign was in English too!) I honestly didn’t think I had room in me for another bite, but my daughter and I shared a bowl of their delicious ramen with yuzu. Yu-ki ordered our bowl and then bowed out, as she was stuffed too and not ordering. In such a small place, I’m sure that it was appreciated.
Our last stop of the night was for sorbet. Tomato sorbet paired with watermelon was delicious. We bid adieu to Yu-ki, and headed back to our home away from home.
Aug 31st, 2016, 01:02 AM
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Sunday in Tokyo… time to head to Kyoto. The first order of business was to call the front desk and make a reservation for our time back in Tokyo the following week. The location of our hotel was perfect for us; train station across the street, food mall downstairs and many other choices nearby. There’s a soccer field on a rooftop above the station; it was entertaining to watch a match while taking the elevator to our room.
We made our way to Shinagawa where we were to board the Shinkansen for Kyoto. In my haste, we boarded the wrong train, the “dreaded” Nozomi (only dreaded because it’s not included in the JR Pass.) No worries, the attendant on the train (who had no English at all, and nor did I have any Japanese) came back to me with the time schedule of the correct train at the first stop. Once on the correct train, we settled in and relaxed in our spacious seats in a green car.
By the way… Reading54… your advice was (of course) spot on. Hyperdia made life so much easier when planning travel and when booking seat reservations. A tip for others who may not have wifi outside of the hotel: Take a screen shot of your proposed journey and save it on your phone. That way you have instant access without using international data. (Idea courtesy of my teenager.)
Someotherguy: I took your advice to heart in Kyoto, and bypassed public transportation entirely. We either walked or took a taxi. Although our hotel was excellently located at a crossroads of a bus line and a subway line, I hadn’t been “on the ground” long enough to feel confident at managing the schedules. Perhaps if we had stayed longer in Tokyo and traveled more there, it would have been a different story.
We took a taxi from the train station to our hotel: the Kyoto Royal Hotel & Spa. I had booked the last available room and asked to switch to a twin room instead of a double. After much conversation (I suspect on the job training was underway), we were offered a suite for a nominal price; the only caveat is that it was a smoking room. We were assured that there was no odor in the room and indeed, there wasn’t. Plenty of space to move around, unpack, relax at the desk, etc. There was even a chaise longue and an easy chair. The bathroom was huge (compared to the Shibuya Excel.)
Our next step was to take an orientation walk around the neighborhood. I’d previously booked and canceled a stay at Citadines; when I looked on Google Earth, it didn’t look as though there were many amenities nearby. Kyoto Royal Hotel & Spa is well located on a busy street with plenty of shopping and eating options. (We never did pass by Citadines so cannot comment on whether my concerns were justified or not.) Kyoto was packed on Sunday afternoon, so after about a mile of walking, we decided to head back to the hotel and eat at the restaurant downstairs. It was fine; many options for travel-weary guests to have a familiar bite.
We stopped at 7-11 for cash and snacks, and decide on our meal plan for the next two weeks. The sandwiches at 7-11 are surprisingly tasty, so we kept one or two in our refrigerator for our jet-lagged hunger pangs and planned one “nice” meal out per day. This expanded to bakeries when we found them. (Daughter follows a YouTube person who blogs? about all sorts of things in Japan… so she knew many more tips than I did!) We called it an early night, eager to visit Nara the next morning.
We made our way to Shinagawa where we were to board the Shinkansen for Kyoto. In my haste, we boarded the wrong train, the “dreaded” Nozomi (only dreaded because it’s not included in the JR Pass.) No worries, the attendant on the train (who had no English at all, and nor did I have any Japanese) came back to me with the time schedule of the correct train at the first stop. Once on the correct train, we settled in and relaxed in our spacious seats in a green car.
By the way… Reading54… your advice was (of course) spot on. Hyperdia made life so much easier when planning travel and when booking seat reservations. A tip for others who may not have wifi outside of the hotel: Take a screen shot of your proposed journey and save it on your phone. That way you have instant access without using international data. (Idea courtesy of my teenager.)
Someotherguy: I took your advice to heart in Kyoto, and bypassed public transportation entirely. We either walked or took a taxi. Although our hotel was excellently located at a crossroads of a bus line and a subway line, I hadn’t been “on the ground” long enough to feel confident at managing the schedules. Perhaps if we had stayed longer in Tokyo and traveled more there, it would have been a different story.
We took a taxi from the train station to our hotel: the Kyoto Royal Hotel & Spa. I had booked the last available room and asked to switch to a twin room instead of a double. After much conversation (I suspect on the job training was underway), we were offered a suite for a nominal price; the only caveat is that it was a smoking room. We were assured that there was no odor in the room and indeed, there wasn’t. Plenty of space to move around, unpack, relax at the desk, etc. There was even a chaise longue and an easy chair. The bathroom was huge (compared to the Shibuya Excel.)
Our next step was to take an orientation walk around the neighborhood. I’d previously booked and canceled a stay at Citadines; when I looked on Google Earth, it didn’t look as though there were many amenities nearby. Kyoto Royal Hotel & Spa is well located on a busy street with plenty of shopping and eating options. (We never did pass by Citadines so cannot comment on whether my concerns were justified or not.) Kyoto was packed on Sunday afternoon, so after about a mile of walking, we decided to head back to the hotel and eat at the restaurant downstairs. It was fine; many options for travel-weary guests to have a familiar bite.
We stopped at 7-11 for cash and snacks, and decide on our meal plan for the next two weeks. The sandwiches at 7-11 are surprisingly tasty, so we kept one or two in our refrigerator for our jet-lagged hunger pangs and planned one “nice” meal out per day. This expanded to bakeries when we found them. (Daughter follows a YouTube person who blogs? about all sorts of things in Japan… so she knew many more tips than I did!) We called it an early night, eager to visit Nara the next morning.
Aug 31st, 2016, 05:35 AM
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Reading along and enjoying. Curious about how much the food tour was and if you got to make any selections. These are difficult if one has dietary restrictions, but always sound like so much fun.
Aug 31st, 2016, 03:06 PM
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Thanks Reading54 and dgunbug, the food tour was delicious and Oishii! It was, in fact, Oishii Tokyo Food Tours, rated #1 in Shibuya. Our tour is now called the Aka Chochin tour and was $150 per person. It seemed pricey while booking it but totally worth it. <Note: we went on a food tour for just a bit less in Lima (in June) and now food tours will be on the docket for every new destination.> Incidentally, the air conditioning was not working at stop #3. The food was great, but when a friend of Yu-ki's stopped to say hello (and gave us fans) I was much happier!
Kavey, our nominal upgrade fee at Kyoto Royal Hotel & Spa was $30 per night. Totally worth it!!
Kavey, our nominal upgrade fee at Kyoto Royal Hotel & Spa was $30 per night. Totally worth it!!
Aug 31st, 2016, 03:54 PM
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Oops, degunbug... On our food tour, we didn't ask for choices but I would imagine that they would have an issue with it. They do ask for food allergies/aversions. They also do custom tours, if you want something else.
Sep 7th, 2016, 03:57 PM
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Flying by the seat of our pants, we decided on Nara for first thing Monday. We arrived by the time Todaiji opened at 7:30 a.m. and enjoyed the quiet, spacious grounds. The Buddha was spectacular and we had him to ourselves. Further wanderings led us to map-eating deer, a lovely walk through Nara park and a visit to Kasuga Taisha. For both places, advance studying or a tour guide would have helped with explaining the significance of the sites. Our mobile wifi died at this point (due to overheating in my bag) so we headed west to visit Kofukuji Temple and the five story pagoda. My goal was to see the six-armed Ashura Statue, but when I realized I’d overshot her location, I wimped out and continued walking west. We looked for the historic shopping district but without a map (eaten by deer) or wifi (overheated), we continued west until we returned to the train station.
Returning to the hotel room, we showered (again) and set out for lunch. Checking Trip Advisor, we decided on Gion-Tanto, a short-ish walk from the hotel. Mobile wifi fully functional again, we found our destination, had a lovely lunch of okonomiyaki, and wandered back to the hotel.
The remainder of our days in Kyoto followed a similar pattern. We woke early, determined our plans, and headed out on foot. By the time the heat of the day set in, we were back at the hotel for a siesta. After showering and relaxing, we would emerge for food in the mid-afternoon, and retreat to the hotel when the heat and humidity proved to be too much.
Favorites: Shopping in Higashyama! I could spend days here! Arashiyama! We arrived at Togetsukyo Bridge at 7 a.m. and walked all the way to Otagi Nenbutsuji Temple and back before finding a cab to take us back to our hotel.
Katsukara is near the hotel with tonkotsu as their specialty. Likewise, Sizuya Sanjo is a bakery across the street (and down a bit) from the hotel and had the best pastries that we had on our trip. They are also located in the train station. Both were favorites and we enjoyed their meals several times.
Eventually we decided it was time to move on. While Hiroshima figured prominently in my original plans, we decided on Kanazawa as our next destination.
Returning to the hotel room, we showered (again) and set out for lunch. Checking Trip Advisor, we decided on Gion-Tanto, a short-ish walk from the hotel. Mobile wifi fully functional again, we found our destination, had a lovely lunch of okonomiyaki, and wandered back to the hotel.
The remainder of our days in Kyoto followed a similar pattern. We woke early, determined our plans, and headed out on foot. By the time the heat of the day set in, we were back at the hotel for a siesta. After showering and relaxing, we would emerge for food in the mid-afternoon, and retreat to the hotel when the heat and humidity proved to be too much.
Favorites: Shopping in Higashyama! I could spend days here! Arashiyama! We arrived at Togetsukyo Bridge at 7 a.m. and walked all the way to Otagi Nenbutsuji Temple and back before finding a cab to take us back to our hotel.
Katsukara is near the hotel with tonkotsu as their specialty. Likewise, Sizuya Sanjo is a bakery across the street (and down a bit) from the hotel and had the best pastries that we had on our trip. They are also located in the train station. Both were favorites and we enjoyed their meals several times.
Eventually we decided it was time to move on. While Hiroshima figured prominently in my original plans, we decided on Kanazawa as our next destination.
