Visiting Kyoto for the color - and there was no color :)
 

I got back from my lightening trip to Kyoto and Tokyo on Wed night. Will probably do a full on TR next week (but right now I'm facing major dental work and oral surgery -- this is sort of to get my mind off tomorrow ;) )

Slight snags -- I chose Kyoto in November to see the color . . . and there wasn't any. I guess autumn was so warm that nothing had changed yet. But not to worry -- I still had a GREAT time. Then snag # 2 . . . I traveled on to Tokyo on Monday knowing it was a holiday. But didn't realize that a Monday holiday closes most of the sites on Tuesday :( I was in the city Monday afternoon til early Wed afternoon - so my only full day in Tokyo and everything I intended to see (the Imperial Palace gardens, the Edo-Tokyo museum, etc) were shut. But not to worry - I still had a GREAT time :)

I will have to go back sometime -- maybe during a less crowded season in Kyoto (it was absolutely jam packed almost everywhere) and avoiding a holiday in Tokyo.

I loved both of my accommodations -- a funky pretty basic guest house in Kyoto practically in the shadow of Nishi Honganji and about a 15 minute walk from Kyoto station, and a quite posh hotel directly across the road from the Tokyo station JR office and a short walk from the Imperial Palace and walkable the Ginza. Instead of gardens and museums in Tokyo I visited the fish market and the Kabuki theatre and splurged on a wonderful dinner.

I had great weather until the day I flew out and utterly enjoyed everything even though the trip I ended up with was a bit different than the trip I envisioned. Over 3 days in Kyoto and about 1.5 days in Tokyo I walked 41.6 miles (per my handy dandy pedometer) . . .

I was amazed how inexpensive most things were.

Thanks for all the help when I was planning this on pretty short notice.

Now time for a pain pill and try to get some dinner down . . . .

Glad you had a good time, best wishes for tomorrow.

Ditto!

Glad you enjoyed your trip and I guarantee you will go back for another visit. Too bad about the Fall colors, who would have guessed there wouldn't be any in November.

We were there at the end of October expecting cool, crisp weather. It was very warm and we didn't wear our jackets once even at night. Looking forward to your TR.

Not at all surprising that OP had a great time even though original plans/expectations changed -- I get the sense that OP is a traveler who knows how to make the best of situations.

Good luck w/the dental stuff.

Great that you liked your trip. Sorry for the lack of colors. Late this year as I had predicted with the El Niño. FYI cherry blossoms in the upcoming Spring will also be affected although no one is saying so but that HT guy....

Aloha!