The old capital, Kyoto

Another early morning, and another ride on the Shinkansen.

We arrived in Kyoto bright and early, and made our way through flowery tree-lined paths, until we found our hotel down a smaller street.

After checking in and dropping off our bags, we headed out to explore. The further we walked, the more I fell in love with the city. Greenery was plentiful, there were streams peeking out below pathways, and small alleys and shops beautifully decorated.

The streets look empty mostly because it was both early and I rarely take photos when I am in congested spaces.

It was a searing hot day, but we had grown accustomed to the heat and humidity; we took a break under the bridge to reapply sunscreen.

Walking along the river really reminded me of the Cheonggyecheon in Seoul, though a stream cannot be compared to the size of a river.

We finally crossed over to the other side, and weaved through streets until we found Ippodo.

We proceeded to spend way too much time and [I spent] way too much money here; we were simply browsing, with the intention to buy a tea or two, when we spotted the tasting menu. The tea master warned us ahead of time that he was unable to speak English, but we were able to communicate with a broken mix of Japanese and English, and many hand gestures and facial expressions.

I really love these storefronts in Kyoto. I would have loved to browse these shops endlessly, and probably end up with a random assortment of bits and bobs, but I guess our early window shopping and limited time in the city prevented that.




I fell in love with this storefront. If you could give me a dream shop, this would probably be as close as it would get.




A lunch at Honke Owariya later, we found ourselves wandering into a random store that was having its first anniversary. We decided to pay a visit, and found ourselves in an incense store. The staff were extremely welcoming and gave us a quiz to do, and gave us small packets of incense as a prize for getting (varying levels) some right.

Another thing I had noticed during our time here was the absolute insanity that are these orchids. They were often in many newly-opened shops, and the sheer number of them and their extreme uniformity baffled me. I was doubly surprised to find out they were real, as they looked so perfect that it was hard to believe. An even harder pill to swallow was seeing the wilted orchids in the back alleys, their once-perfect symmetry having served its short purpose.




After many detours, we finally arrived at Kyoto Gyoen National Garden, headed towards the Imperial Palace.






Entrance to the palace was surprisingly strict, but free! They even had an air-conditioned room with free lockers, where we gratefully stashed our tea haul.







We had just missed the final English tour of the day, so we decided to wander off on our own.






We somehow caught up with the English tour, but we didn't linger too long, as we were stuck between a few tour groups and eager to move on before the area became too crowded.





R: "Hey, it's a he@%$%!"
Me: "A hen?"
"A he$@%!"
"...a... hen??"
"A HERON."
Guy beside us: "No, it's definitely a hen."
It was a heron.




We headed back over the Kamo River, finding the point at which it intersects and splits into the Kamo and Takano River. The scene before us was beautiful; families were out and relaxing by the river, skipping and jumping on the rock paths, splashing about in the shallow waters.




We made our way towards Shimokawaracho area, when the rain finally caught up to us.







After passing on several matcha shops, we gave way to temptation (and the prospect of shelter) and got a matcha cone at Ujicha Gion Tsujiri.






While getting tickets for the museum, there was suddenly an acorn that fell out of the sky, and the gentleman buying his ticket handed it to us, thinking we had dropped it (rather harshly), and when we told him it had come from the sky, we saw the bird at the top of the roof cawing at us. He chucked it back up to the bird, and we carried on through the museum.





We made our way up to Kiyomizudera, and caught it just before closing. We quickly hurried up, only to be distracted by the sun setting over Kyoto.










After making our way back to our hotel, we had dinner at a local izakaya before buying a plentiful supply of Pocari Sweat for the next day's activities.