It rained last night around the time we wanted to eat dinner so Nicole ordered pizza. We went down to the front desk to get the information we needed to do so. We went back up to our room to wait a bit and then went down to wait for the delivery man. We stepped off the elevator to the lobby just as he walked in the front door. We ordered from Domino’s and it was the best Domino’s I have ever had. Nicole was a happy camper to get pizza that actually tasted like pizza from home.
This morning we had the Western breakfast at the hotel restaurant. We had weird shaped eggs, potatoes, bacon, sausage, ham, orange juice, really good bread and some side dishes we didn’t know what they were. It was good – especially the warm croissant. The sausage reminded me of little smokies. They don’t crisp their bacon. – it looks raw. They must cook their eggs in a special pan like our muffin tins. They are an oblong shape.
After breakfast we headed out for the day. Our first stop was the two temples that are close to us. Both were beautiful, peaceful and full of spiritual energy. They are huge! Lots of open rooms for people to come kneel and pray. When I left one of them there was a serious looking security guard. I motioned to him in sign language that my heart was full and I loved the temple. He broke into a big smile and waved and bowed at me.
Nicole noticed a sign that Japan has increased the amount of security guards on duty as they are in high alert for a terrorist attack. Thinking it might have to do with the North Korea and USA situation.
After the second one we walked towards the main train and bus station we had arrived in Kyoto at yesterday. On the way we stopped at a Starbuck’s to cool off and have a drink. We discovered we were right by the observation deck that we wanted to go up. We rode an elevator up 100 meters to the top. There was a beautiful view of this huge city from the top. We saw a huge Buddha in the distance through the free telescope and decided to go see it.
After we got down the elevator we stopped at the visitor’s center to get a bus and subway pass that was good all day. They gave us some good maps and showed us on the map where the Buddha was.
We walked to the main bus station and got on our first bus of the day. We rode to the nearest stop to the Harley Davidson dealer. We had to walk a little over a half mile to get to the dealership. Nicole ended up buying herself a Harley T-Shirt that has Kyoto, Japan on it. What she was looking for they didn’t have.
We walked back to the bus stop and headed to the Buddah. When we got where we were headed we found out they had pointed us in the wrong direction and the Buddha we were looking for wasn’t there. We toured the Temple but it wasn’t impressive.
After we left there we found a little restaurant on the way to our bus stop and stopped and had lunch. We shared some sort of pasta dish that was OK. After we cooled down we headed to another Temple. From there we took the subway to a Castle.
This castle was better than the one in Osaka but it wasn’t air-conditioned and it was packed full of sweating people. We cut out early and left.
At all the temples and at the castle you have to take your shoes off at the front door. You can either put them in a shoe rack or they provide a plastic bag for you to carry them with you.
By the time we took the subway back home it was 4:00 and we had left before 8:00 this morning. We walked over 6 miles and took 14 flights of stairs. It was another hot and humid day. It sprinkled on us briefly at one point. It was humid enough it felt like we were walking in rain all day without the cool relief of rain.
A shower has never felt so good!
My Verizon international phone service has been disappointing. I can’t text or use the Internet while I am out and about. The reason I got the service was so Nicole and I could text each other if we got lost. I called Verizon from the Starbuck’s. We got disconnected and about 45 minutes later I got a text from them saying they would call me shortly. They haven’t called me yet. After a bit I may try to call them but at this point it seems pointless. I’ll call when I get home and see if I can get a refund.
Tomorrow we head to the Osaka Airport Hotel sometime in the afternoon. There is a luggage service that will send our bags ahead and we can claim them when we get to the hotel. Not sure yet if we will do that or ask this hotel to hold them for us so we can go out tomorrow morning for one last sight-seeing adventure. Not sure yet what Nicole wants to do. I want to do a little souvenir shopping. We have picked up a few things but I haven’t found what I have been looking for. Not sure what that is yet but I will know it when I see it. What I have found I liked was pretty expensive and I have passed on things so far.
Not looking forward to the 12 hour flight plus two smaller flights on Sunday. But I am ready to go home.
We didn’t see many people who looked like us today again. I did talk to a lady from MN briefly on the bus. She said it was 70 degrees back home. That sounds cold to me right now! I don’t think it has been below 90 since we got here except for a couple of hours during the typhoon.
We have not had a bad experience yet with anybody we have interacted with. All have been helpful, speak some English and are very polite. Japan is certainly a country I would come back to but in a different season. I bet their spring time is especially beautiful.