After 8 hours of sleep, I woke up thinking I was back in MI, but I was so disappointed because I did not get a certain bag I saw near the bullet train station in Kyoto. Once I realized where I really was I took the suggestion from my dream and bought the bag today before getting on the bullet train home :) Anyways, back to the morning! Madelyn and I got ready and checked out of the hotel. Apparently not many places where one can buy breakfast items are open at 8am in Kyoto, so we went to Starbucks. I got a delicious blueberry scone and ate the fruit cup I bought the night before at 7/11.
Our bus arrived and took us on our morning tour around Kyoto. Our guide was super obnoxious and difficult to understand, despite the fact that her English is better than that of any person we work with at the school. Instead of “um” or the Japanese equivalent of “etto” as her choice of filler verbal garbage, she would add “nah” or “nah-ah” often throughout her sentences...look at facebook for pictures and more information on the tour...
After our morning tour, the bus dropped us off for a buffet lunch at the Handicraft Center. It was okay food and I enjoyed being able to choose what to get on my plate as well not be forced to eat it all. Madelyn and I sat with a girl our age touring Japan from Switzerland. She was supposed to come with a friend, but after the earthquake in March the friend backed out. I was so impressed by her, traveling around in a strange country alone for two weeks! Our itinerary provided by the school said we would attend a hands-on activity at this time, the example given us was a tea ceremony. We were way pumped! However, I think there were some miscommunications. The lady at the front desk of the center said she didn’t know of any hands-on activities they offered, a sign I found mentioned some classes but did not include a tea ceremony or anything else that interested us in the slightest bit,, and although our tour company’s brochure mentioned a tea ceremony but it would have taken all afternoon which we didn’t have time for, not to mention it would have cost twice as much as they gave us in our budget. Sigh. We ended up browsing the gift shop there for a bit before our next bus came along.
A hurricane is coming to the Kyoto area tomorrow or the next day so today was quite rainy! The morning wasn’t too bad, just sprinkles here and there. However, the afternoon tour was accompanies by buckets and buckets of rain....again, look at facebook for the pictures as there were too many to pick from!
Sidenote: crazy ladies here wear stilettos or wedge heel shoes walking around in rain, rocky roads, and wiggly bullet trains.
Once arriving back at the bullet train station, I purchased my Kyoto bag at the shopping area there and Madelyn and I picked up some dinner. I got some sushi rolls with cucumber, tamago (egg that’s slightly sweet), and enari (fried tofu) as well as a delicious pastry :) We met up with a guide there who would take us to the correct platform to catch the bullet train. Yay for not getting lost! Our dinners were consumed on the train which is where I wrote most of this post and went through my pictures from this trip :) Look for the pictures that will provide more information of the tour part, it was just too much to pick through what to put on here.
We got off the bullet train and met another guide who took through the huge Tokyo station to our train. Yay again for not getting lost! We made our connection, but found out there was trouble on the line at one of the stations we were going to pass through. So we had to detour a bit but eventually made it back to the school safe and sound and only an hour and a half later than we planned! Good night, Monday :)
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