Kyoto

We woke up with the first light this morning and watched the sun move down the mountain from the warm haven of our doona covered futons. It was chilly and peaceful and still, at least it was for a while until some guy with a whipper snippet started up about 6.30. So we got up and started the day off with another wash and bath in the cypress tub. Breakfast in the Fujimoto Inn was another spectacular Japanese spread, salmon, different sorts of mushrooms, tofu, rice, and yogurt to polish it off.  An unusual but delicious and satisfying breakfast, and the English lady resolutely eating toast at a nearby table was missing out sadly in my opinion, but I guess she was happy too. We went for a quick walk along the quiet streets, deserted except for a few ladies out industriously sweeping their front steps.

The owner and assistant farewelled us very nicely, and we pottered down to sit in the early morning sun to wait for the bus which would begin our journey, and three train changes and about three hours later arrived at Kyoto station. Its my third time arriving in Kyoto, but I found it as disorienting and overwhelming as the first. We found a café and had some lunch and coffee to strengthen our nerves, then blundered round a bit until we found the Tourist Information Centre, and got clear directions on which way to go to get to our hotel. The hotel we are staying at is located in a relatively charmless part of Kyoto, to the South, and the building itself is eye-wateringly ugly. But it is located literally a few steps from an entrance to the subway, and only one stop from Kyoto central, and the hotel inside is very comfortable. We spent the afternoon getting over the culture shock of coming from such a peaceful place to somewhere so busy. And we did some planning and organizing - ran a load of laundry thought the hotel machines, topped up our Suica cards, found the bus ticket office and bought some daily passes for the next few days, and booked tickets for the Sugano "Romantic Train" for tomorrow. We headed off for dinner at one of the group of restaurants on the top floor of the Yodabashi store near the station - I was trying to find one that my kids had discovered last time we were here, but picked a different one - though dinner was still delicious. But Yodabashi is a major sensory overload, such bright lights, so many things, and we decided it was time to scuttle back to the hotel and spend a bit of time on a darkened room to build up our strength for tomorrow.