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The shinkansen ride to Kyoto went by in a blur, perhaps fifteen minutes at most. You never really get a sense of the speed of one of those until another passes you by, they are incredibly long, yet they pass each other in fifteen seconds or less. This was to be my fourth trip to Kyoto, and even after that many times the old capital still managed to impress me and reveal a few more secrets.
After arriving at the Kyoto Cube station we decided to first check in at the hotel we would be staying at. It was just about a ten minute walk or so from the station. I use the word hotel but it really was more like a large guest house. A nice old lady own and ran the place. She asked when we came in if we were English teachers, which is the standard assumption for older looking Americans, while I was 20 at the time, I had a pretty heavy beard which throws the Japanese off about your age. She was a bit surprised when I said we were college students.
The room had a bit more leg room than the tiny room we had stayed at in Osaka, tatami mat floors as well. We headed out to eat lunch after settling in, a few minutes walk led us to an underground McDonalds, strange eating in a McDonalds with no windows, rather crowded as well.
Temples are a dime a dozen in Kyoto with no end of interesting places to visit, there was a temple we had eyed near McDonalds and decided to stop in and check it out before heading out into the city proper. I had never actually been to this one on my earlier trips. It had a very large sloping roof and an expansive main hall. Outside the main hall were rows of shoes, taken off in order to respect tradition and not damage the tatami mats within. I would recommend anyone visiting Japan to wear easy to slip on shoes. Outside the temple, school girls were feeding a large flock of pigeons, one had two perching on one arm and another one on her other arm. It never fails to see flocks of pigeons near temple grounds.
After that detour, we went over to the bus station near the Kyoto Cube, to pick up some bus passes, which I recommend anyone visiting Kyoto to do. While the subway is the preferred method of travel in Japan, I recommend the bus system in Kyoto, they have some lines really catered to tourists, they are fast, reliable, and clean.
Our first stop was the hanging temple of Kiyomizu, always a great trip. What made this trip really special was that it was during the school trip season in Japan. In Japan, it is typical for schools to have organized class trips to various parts of Japan where a great amount of responsibility is placed upon the students to be independent, function in groups without much adult supervision. They are often given tasks to perform which I encountered in the throng of school children enveloping the temple paths. It was actually quite a sight to see these masses of blue dots among the crowds, those navy blue sailor uniforms.
One little group came up to me to ask questions, since foreigners are often seen visiting Kyoto, they were given a set of questions to ask in English to foreigners they encountered. I could imagine if I had been that age, probably around 11 or so, I would have been terrified to talk to a stranger in a language I barely comprehended, although I suppose children can be quite bold at times. They asked me where I was from, my name, and then if I spoke any Japanese which I answered in Japanese, “yes, a little”. I heard one girl exclaim to the other girl, “Umai” which basically meant, “he’s very good.” It was a nice little moment that I still remember vividly.
After exploring the temple, we walked around the path near by that leads through some gardens and such. Suddenly sounds of a flute came drifting up the path. An rather dapper older gentlemen was playing a flute on a bench. He talked to us for a little bit. Funny thing when we mentioned we were from Alabama he mentioned two things, “Forrest Gump” and “Sweet Home Alabama”, I almost felt like slapping my head, the phrase “Run, Forest, Run” has haunted me for years, you couldn’t run anywhere when I was growing up without someone yelling that at you, it may have died down now in recent years, at least I hope so. He played “When you wish upon a star” for us, it was actually a very unique and pleasant experience, another indelible stamp on this trip to Kyoto.
Our final stop of the day was Kinkakuji, the Golden Pavilion. We actually reached there about five minutes before closing time, but they let us in anyway. Due to this fact, a security guard followed us all the way through, a little odd, but we were the only people there which made it a bit more mysterious and peaceful, as usual you could see a reflection of the pavilion flickering on top of mirror pond. Unfortunately due to the time, the gift shop was already closed. I had hoped to get another traffic safety charm, these little charms of various types are sold at many temples throughout Japan. I bought one at Kinkakuji in 2005, and it still hangs in my car to this day, 7 years later. If I ever go back, I will be sure to pick a few up again.
With the sun setting, we headed in for a early rest for the adventures of the next day and more memorable events were to follow.
