Kyoto
Jon recently found out he’s “on call” this weekend and not working in the office! This may not be that exciting to you, but it means that we get to take a long-awaited weekend trip to Kyoto!
Kyoto is the former capitol of Japan, about 2.5 hours away by bullet train. Not only will it be exciting to see the city, which is supposed to ooze with history (it is one of the only majour cities in Japan that was not burned to the ground during warfare. Most japanese buildings have been rebuilt.), but it’s cherry blossom season and we get to take the bullet train!
This is so awesome, for so many reasons. Kyoto is one of the best places in the country to stay in a ryokan, or traditional Japanese style lodging. They’re tremendously expensive but are supposed to be one of the best ways to “splurge” on your Japanese vacation. Everything is good, right? Because it’s cherry blossom season, we’re going on what will potentially be the most beautiful weekend of the year.
Good. Well. We apparently are not the only ones with such high thoughts of Kyoto. Nearly every ryokan, hotel, and hostel is completely booked. We can’t even find one of those cheap “back up plan” hotels.
For all that, we MAY have to sleep in the train station.
Comments
just a quick update. We found a hotel!
AWESOME! Everything about that trip sounds perfect!
Can’t wait to see the pictures!!!!!!!!!
While you may not have had very many replies, you have a wide readership. Ann and I track your adventures routinely and I have friends and co workers who have made comments about how interesting and well done your blog is. I’ve even had the comment that what you do is better than the travel logs on TV. So while you may only hear the echo of your thoughts we are out there.Good that you’ve found a motel in Kyoto. Is it a ryokan? That would really add to the trip. And if it isn’t, it’s still better than the train station even if they are unbelievably clean. I haven’t heard anything about your tooth lately. Hope that means you’re doing better.Love
Completely agree with Pa Eggers. You are a very talented writer and photographer. I am hooked. I look forward to reading about your crazy Japanese adventures and looking at your pictures. In a way, it’s like we here are all sharing this trip with you. I feel like I am anyway with your awesome editorials. Plus we get to see your two smiling faces (which always puts a smile on my face) while we are sharing the sights through your eyes/lens. Everyone here, at myI work, also looks at the screen savor slide show on my computer. It has lots of your pictures in the slideshow.
I even have one question from a coworker about the little (what looked like) marble or stone dolls that were being offered at one of the Buddhas. She wanted to know more about the significance of the little doll offerings. I’ll locate the photo and ask you then.
That’s a fantastic question and I’m not sure if I can give her a concrete answer. At some of the temples you can buy different things to write your prayers on. When we were at the place in Kyoto with all of the orange toriitorii and write on that (to leave behind at the shrine). A lot of places sell wooden placards for the same purpose.
In all of the internet searches I’ve done, I’ve yet to come up with a good definition for what they are or what they signify. Most people seem to agree with the broad nature: you can buy them at the little shop, put your intentions on them, and offer it as a prayer.