We started our first full day in Kyoto by visiting the imperial palace. This was the former palace of the Emperor of Japan. In 1869 the palace was moved to Tokyo. While the grounds are open to the public, the interior is only by reserved guided tour. We were lucky to show up in time to sign up for the morning tour. Number of large gates provide access to the palaces and each has a specific use. The gate below is for the empress and any princesses. The shape of the gate with it's curved smooth edges is meant to be very feminine.
The roofs of the gates and many buildings are from cypress bark. The bark is peeled from the living tree, not harming tree, layered and "nailed" in with little toothpick like wood nails, all hand made. The roofs are good for 30 years but it takes 25 years to refinish a roof! Below the guide showed the typical length of cypress they work with. Sadly they are running out of cypress to refinish all the roofs as it's become a popular material now since it's long lasting, weather proof.
Screen drawing of one of the many buildings. This particular room was one of the waiting rooms for the noblemen prior to seeing the emperor.
As expected the gardens were gorgeous! We saw people picking old pine needles off the tree one by one by hand.
After the palace we stopped at a curry house for lunch. While yummy the curry overflowed a bit with garam masala and if the curry is left to get cold it gets a bit gelatinous.
Following lunch we headed to the confectionary museum, sadly no pictures allowed. The things they did with sugar was amazing...whole flower arrangements, a Japanese maple with perfect autumn colours!
Next was Nijo castle, the residence of the first Shogun. Once the shogun rule fell (close to 300 yrs later) it was used as an imperial palace then donated to the city. Pictures were not allowed inside...the rooms were covered with tatami mats, painted ceilings and beautiful painted sliding doors. Michelle loved the nightingale floors - basically floors designed to squeak like a nightingale to war against intruders.
Subway station marked the calories burnt at each step...
Probably not enough to offset treats, but we saw this mochi package in the vending machine.
Thought it was ice cream covered in mochi (yes people there is apparently such a thing. Keep your eyes opened at an asian store!) but nope it was some sort of cream thing. No the best mochi, but hey it's mochi!
We followed this up with a walk through Nishiki market. This had all things Japanese and not so Japanese...food, clothes, electronics you name it they had it. Though mostly food. Looking at all the food on a stick, I was a bit disappointed we already had lunch.
Oh sweets! No we didn't indulge :(
After a nap and shower we headed out again to an Izakaya (Japanese pub) with the yankees for dinner. They I wiare a very friendly and fun bunch but a couple of them has a knack of walking away from the group, sending everyone into a tailspin!
This place had typical north american pub food (wings, french fries) but done so much better and couple Japanese type dishes...I had this roast pork on a bed of cabbage that was incredible.
Sweet potato wedges came with this crazy good honey butter. We may have licked the bowl..
After dinner we walked through this cute street in the geisha area. We were quite lucky to see a geisha scramble away from us. 7 people with 7 cameras stood there staring at her, jaws hanging, stupidly excited to see her. Though it may have been a good thing we didn't whip up our cameras and become annoying paparazzi.
I should have taken a video of this, but this is a plastic figurine that bows as you walk by. Really cute and oh so Japanese!
Last on the schedule for the day was Karaoke. Let me just say my ears hurt as we left the place!
Next off to Nara to see the deer roam about!
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