Kyōto

Kyoto

Left for Kyōto a little later than planned, but still had time for some fun experiences.

On our way to Namba we saw groups of young people breakdancing. Tried to take a few pictures, but it was hard to capture the moment. I'll see later if the movie is any better.

Our plan was to start at Namba and then switch trains two times until we would finally get to Shin-Ōsaka, where the Shinkansen leave. We stayed too long on the first train, though, and had to go back two stations. There, by pure luck, we encountered the Kansai Airport Express, which happens to go directly to Kyōto, thereby simplifying our plans and buying us some time.

On arriving to Kyōto we decided to go strolling for a while and see what would turn up. We found the Nishi Hongan Temple, but it wasn't really Westerner-friendly signs-wise, so at first we didn't know what it was. Erik then had the idea that we should rent bikes, because the city is quite big. We asked some Westerners we met where they had rented their bikes, and after some looking we found the place and rented a bike each.

Now we wanted to go to the old Imperial Palace, which was far further away than we had realized. Good thing we had the bikes! We saw some great sakura trees there, and the outside of the enormous palace. To see the inside you need to apply for entrance at the Imperial House Authorities etc, so we didn't bother.

Our curiosity brought us to the Budo Centre shown on the map. Just before arriving there, however, Erik saw the front of a Tozando store and wanted to go in. Turns out that store actually opened today, and they had special deals on iaitō, which Erik finally couldn't resist. The owner actually was a 4-dan iaidō instructor, so he helped Erik choose a suitable sword. Since the store was just opening, they didn't have a working card reader yet, so we got a tip for a post office where we could withdraw money.

When we came out from the store, our rented bikes were gone! We borrowed the store's phone and called the rental company to sort things out. Then we decided to take care of the money thing. 50 m along the road we found the bikes again. Apparently we had been parking in a private spot. As the shop owner said: "I told you, this is Japan, nobody steals bikes!". We called the rental firm again to explain that there was no trouble and then went to get the money. The post office was closed and the ATMs inaccessible. So no sword for Erik this time. :-(

It was getting late, so we rode all the way back to the rental shop. It took us over 30 minutes! We checked when the next Kansai Airport Express would leave and spent the remaining time checking out the enormous railway station. We took the escalators to what we thought would be the top floor, only to reveal a new flight of escalators. Amazing.

On finally arriving at Namba again, we decided to see how far the underground arcade would lead. 20 minutes later we found ourselves at the subway station right outside our hostel. Once again: Amazing. When standing in the tunnel, you really can't see the end of it.