july 3

We woke up late and got to Kyoto imperial palace. We had to register for an English tour. It was so hot it took forever to get there. Then we got registered for the 10am tour and had to wait 30 min for it to start. We go on the tour and the lady is talking about the gates and how we actually had to walk thru the servants gate. They make roofs with cypress wood and bamboo nails. We finish around 11a and we headed to the station to get reserved for the shinkansen to Osaka. I’m ready to go. well b needs to eat. I bought more anpan so I don’t need anything. We go back to detour and he gets a sandwich and I get some iced coffee. We walk to find honnoji and of course it’s under construction. Honnoji is where nobunaga killed himself. And there’s a lame museum that he wants to go to. Great. 500yen down the drain. It was only room. Then we went down stairs and he got a postcard and poster.

Then we go to ippodo the green tea shop that akiyoshi recommended. We got koicha, the thickest kind of maccha. And we also got dango with mocchi. It was really bitter for me. We had a hard time ordering because we didn’t know what each one was. The waitress tried to explain that once we were finished we could add water to drink the rest. I interpreted it as once you were done you could get more green tea. She came out with a note on an index card to tell us. It was funny and she was really nice to us. When she came back to add water to the remaining I asked for sato (sugar) and she said nai! No supposed to use sugar in green tea.

So we left and went to nijojo castle. That was cool. It was walking through the house and the garden. They have nightingale floors that creak when you walk. It was their security system. The gift shop sucked but we found those special coins to imprint your name. then we headed for nishi honganji. It’s supposed to be a treasure house. We got there and we sea a geisha and a man get out of a cab and taking pictures. I run across the street and take her picture. Then we figured out that they went to the toei movie land and got dressed up. We get to the temple and it’s closing. Great. We went to the gift shop and got this mini picture cards and some plain yatsuhashi. It was good.

Well damn. No time to see the Buddha. I will be coming back to Kyoto. Then we went back to the station and stopped by the Kyoto tower gift shop and picked up some yatsuhashi for mika and got a tawawa souvenir . Brandon wanted a little Kyoto tower. we go back to the ryokan to get our things and wait for the bus. It was jammed packed. there was no way we would make it. We squeezed ourselves on the next one and got to the station. We get there at 615. but we do not think we will make it.

We go to the ticket office and find out the next one won’t get there until 730p. we wanted to check in before 8p because that is when the desk closes. So we decide to take the rapid jr service and it took 23 min. we get out and go to the taxies. And no one knows how to get to our ryokan. 4-5 taxis turned us down. Then this one guy tells us he can take us but he was kind of arguing with the security officer. We don’t know what is going on. But he lets us in. we ride in silence and he was talking to himself for a while. We were almost there when he stopped the cab and pulled over and went into a conveni. He was lost. He came back and knew wher to go. great! Shorly we were at the weekly mansion in otomae Osaka. It’s more like a hotel. We had our own bathroom. Cool. Pretty nice. We drop off everything and go to find a Japanese restaurant the staff recommended. I got some fish and miso soup. yum. And rice of course. We walked around and went to the convenie and came back and showered. I catalogued some pictures and went to sleep. When we got to Osaka Brandon realized that the Kyoto tower was really a pagoda. Whoops!