Back from Kyoto - Thank you Fodorites!
 

I apologize I am a bit late in my thank you note. Please excuse any English mistakes because I am not a native speaker.

Last May we spent 12 nights in Kyoto (which we loved!) at the Kyoto Garden Hotel (https://www.kyoto-gardenhotel.co.jp/e/hotel_info.html) and were very pleased with it.

If you are looking for a budget alternative under US$100 per night I can highly recommend it. We got an Internet deal and paid US$57 per night (breakfast not included). The hotel is well localized, one block away from the underground station, walking distance to Nijo Castle, very clean, and an attentive English speaking staff.

Our one night in Tokyo was spent at the Hotel Villa Fontaine Ueno
(http://www.hvf.jp/eng/ueno.php#h2_access) which was a very nice budget hotel too (US$63 breakfast included).

I have to give an extra recommendation - Johnny's tour of Kyoto - http://web.kyoto-inet.or.jp/people/h-s-love/ - I am glad we managed to do it. It was excellent.

We left a bit of our heart in Japan. Images say more than words on broken English so if you want to check some of our photos please go to: http://www.zenfolio.com/BurunekoImages/home.aspx. I hope you like them.

A huge and heartfelt "Thank you!" Fodorites, for your valuable advice which made my trip possible and wonderful as a result. You are the best. :-)

I am sorry I made a mistake - photo album address is -

http://burunekoimages.zenfolio.com/

Great pictures!

Impressed with the photos. Daily life : I have a few of that huge plastic pinch that hold the futon hanging. Bought at a 100-yen shop.

Beautiful photos. Thanks for sharing.
I was just in Kyoto for 2 days...and could have used several more days to explore.

Wonderful photos - thanks!

Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful photos!

Thank you all for your feedback on the photos. I am delighted to hear you have liked them. I am still sorting out images from another two 2Gb memory cards - so much to register! so many lovely places...

Kappa: I also bought the futon pins! Very useful to hang our feather duvet in the sun.

Cruisinred: I know how you feel. We have spent 12 days in Kyoto and it was not enough...

The truth is - we have been bitten hard by the Japan bug! I am sure a few of you in this forum know the symptoms... We are already doing the math to see if our travel budget will allow us to return next year! :-)