We had a nice day wandering about Tokyo and through Ueno Park, a beautiful oasis in the middle of the big city, not too disimilar from Central Park in New York.
The temples/shrines in Japan are different than Korea. Rather than being guarded by scary looking giant angels as in Korea, they are guarded by small scary looking dogs. Some of the ones we saw have statues of Buddha, but they are much smaller than the ones we visited in Korea and have a different face (still lovely). There is so much more I could and should say about our day in the park, but I'm pooped so these stories will have to wait until I get home.
We took the super express train to Kyoto at around 4:30pm. The ride was just shy of 2 1/2 hours across the country side. Beautiful views of green mountains and flooded rice fields. We arrived in Kyoto at the brand new train station (just opened April 1st) and walked to our hostel in about 15 minutes. It seems fine, very nice staff, but not quite as charming as K's House in Tokyo.
My first impression of Kyoto is that it doesn't seem as clean (other than the train station) as Tokyo. But, it has come so highly recommended, that I just know we will find many gems tomorrow.
Did you know that they ride on the opposite side of the street here? I did not. And there are bicycles everywhere, ridden by everyone -- the young, the old, business people, women dressed to the nines in high heels. They have bicycle parking lots and most of the bikes have baskets. I am inspired. The sidewalks have bumps on them at each intersection, I guess for the blind. This does not make for the easy lugging of baggage around. I am so grateful that we have a place to park for a few days and don't have to haul our stuff around.
I feel like I might be whining a bit. I think I'm a little pooped -- oh, I must be, I already said that. So, good night for now!
O.K., one more thing. Brett met a chatty older man at the Hiroshima flame today who told us that the Japanese are 100% safe. No worry of crime here. Not like the Americans. He heard that 50% of Americans carry guns and will shoot you or pick pocket you if they get the chance. Hopefully our pleasantness helped soften his view of the west. As we were walking away from chatting with him, a Japanese-American woman warned us that he was "feeding us a line of bull"... hmmm, made me pause and think that his opinion of Americans being suspicious is true.
The temples/shrines in Japan are different than Korea. Rather than being guarded by scary looking giant angels as in Korea, they are guarded by small scary looking dogs. Some of the ones we saw have statues of Buddha, but they are much smaller than the ones we visited in Korea and have a different face (still lovely). There is so much more I could and should say about our day in the park, but I'm pooped so these stories will have to wait until I get home.
We took the super express train to Kyoto at around 4:30pm. The ride was just shy of 2 1/2 hours across the country side. Beautiful views of green mountains and flooded rice fields. We arrived in Kyoto at the brand new train station (just opened April 1st) and walked to our hostel in about 15 minutes. It seems fine, very nice staff, but not quite as charming as K's House in Tokyo.
My first impression of Kyoto is that it doesn't seem as clean (other than the train station) as Tokyo. But, it has come so highly recommended, that I just know we will find many gems tomorrow.
Did you know that they ride on the opposite side of the street here? I did not. And there are bicycles everywhere, ridden by everyone -- the young, the old, business people, women dressed to the nines in high heels. They have bicycle parking lots and most of the bikes have baskets. I am inspired. The sidewalks have bumps on them at each intersection, I guess for the blind. This does not make for the easy lugging of baggage around. I am so grateful that we have a place to park for a few days and don't have to haul our stuff around.
I feel like I might be whining a bit. I think I'm a little pooped -- oh, I must be, I already said that. So, good night for now!
O.K., one more thing. Brett met a chatty older man at the Hiroshima flame today who told us that the Japanese are 100% safe. No worry of crime here. Not like the Americans. He heard that 50% of Americans carry guns and will shoot you or pick pocket you if they get the chance. Hopefully our pleasantness helped soften his view of the west. As we were walking away from chatting with him, a Japanese-American woman warned us that he was "feeding us a line of bull"... hmmm, made me pause and think that his opinion of Americans being suspicious is true.
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