Kyoto, Japan's World Heritage City

We took the train to Kyoto, not the bullet train but the slow local one, but it was only 1.5 hours and US$9, so we will take that. After checking into the hotel we took the subway to find some lunch in Kyoto's Teramachi shopping area. Before we reached our destination we spotted a sushi bar and decided to give it a go. Melissa likes sushi, but as I am not crazy about cold food I just went with the flow.. when in Japan.. Since neither of us have been to this type of sushi bar before we were not sure exactly what to do so we sat at the bar and watched the sushi pass by on the conveyor for a few minutes. The waitress came by with a cup and disappeared even quicker. We figured out that each seat has a hot water tap for tea. We wondered how they were going to charge us but saw others just stacking up their plates and reasoned that they would just count up your plates..

We watched the various dishes roll by and after seeing what was on offer we began pulling off the line as we finished each plate. I had the cooked shrimp and tempura, where as Melissa had the sashimi and tuna rolls.. yuck!

Next we hit the covered shopping street which was more like something we have seen in Europe complete with cobblestone alleys and mosaic tile designs. 

The concierge at the hotel gave us a list of points of interest, some general directions and a local map and we headed out! 

Following the directions provided by the hotel, we passed by so many temples, some that were not on the map but looked interesting enough to stop for a look. The directions the hotel gave us were generally pretty easy to follow and we were consistently reassured we were heading in the right direction every time we came across a landmark sign.

We also found our way back to the same Japanese BBQ restaurant that we had eaten at in Osaka - but this time we knew exactly what to order.. and I got to keep my shoes on....

Our last day we took a Kyoto city tour. 

The Kinkaku (Golden Pavilion) is a World Heritage site and it was very different from all the other pagodas we had seen over the past few days.

Melissa is doing the accountants' gang sign again..

The Kyoto Imperial Palace was  highly restrictive. We each had to fill out a questionnaire (name, age, nationality, etc.)  then the entire group had to be counted twice before we could enter. Once we got our approval, a police officer followed our group around the palace to make sure we kept up with the group and didn't attempt to enter any buildings that we shouldn't. A few times I was taking photos and he told me that I needed to catch up with the rest of the group. The palace was very beautiful with many gardens.


 On the train again back to Osaka...brief stop before heading to our next stop - TOKYO!