After the temple, we walked down a busy Kyoto street and checked out some shops. Two of the guys in my group bought kimonos, while myself and the other guy bought some more practical souvenirs:
And that was pretty much it for last night.
Today we left at 8:30 to go to the Imperial Palace in Kyoto. Unfortunately, visitors aren't allowed inside, so we just looked at the outside.
From there we went to Nijo Castle, which is where the Shogun stayed during visits to the Emperor. It was impressive outside, but even moreso inside. There were some excellent screen paintings, and the nightengale floors that I've read about frequently in books about the ninja (I only set the floors of three times, which was a feat in and of itself, but I would've been a goner if I'd been a real ninja). Unfortunately, pictures were not allowed inside.
Our next stop was the Kyoto International Manga Museum, which was all about Japanese comic books. You could take comic books out from a massive selection (in many languages) and read them anywhere. I think there was some historical stuff, too, but I didn't find it. There were lots of cosplayers hanging out in the courtyard outdoors.
From there we made a brief trip to the grave of Nobunaga Oda, one of Japan's greatest military leaders. It was a small, out-of-the-way grave, which was surprising.
That ended our itinerary for the day. We split up into groups to go explore central Kyoto. My group of seven decided first to go get lunch. We ate at a small restaurant, where nobody spoke English. We had to point out what we wanted in the shop's display, and I think the waitress was frustrated with us. The meal was pretty good though; I had ramen noodles (the good, real kind) and beef and vegetables.
After our lunch, we wandered some massive shopping center. There were all kinds of stores and restaurants. It was pretty crazy. We stopped in one particular store that was the craziest of all, probably. It was like Spencer's, only more ridiculous. They had everything: food, clothing, electronics, a Boba Fett action figure signed by the guy who played him in the movie, and even candy bras.
After a looking around a little more, we decided to head back, wandering the streets of Kyoto as we made our way to the hotel. On the way there, we heard...bagpipes. We then witnessed something we never expected to see in Japan: A St. Patrick's Day parade! Complete with sheep, bagpipes, and an "Enjoy Guiness" sign.
We got back to the hotel and have down time until 7pm, when we plan on going and finding a place to eat. Tomorrow we get up really early to leave at 7:25am for Himeji Castle, another place I've always wanted to see.
Some other observations:
It's really warm here, probably mid-60s. It rained a little yesterday, but it was clear and sunny today. Hopefully I'll be a little tanner than snowman white by the time I get back. Japanese people are, as usually described, very polite. They also put up the peace sign pretty much every time they're getting a picture taken.
You will never go thirsty in Kyoto. There are vending machines every few yards. Unfortunately, I don't know what most of the stuff is. I do recognize Coke and Fanta, though, so it's all good. Vending machines here are pretty cool. They sell bottles of hot tea, hot coffee, and hot chocolate, and it's literally hot. I also saw one machine where it gives you your chosen drink in a plastic cup filled with ice. We need these things in America.
Also, the Japanese will make everything green tea flavored if they can. They have green tea ice cream instead of chocolate, and they even have green tea Kit-Kat bars.
Another interesting thing I've noticed is that quite a few Japanese people wear the traditional clothing (kimonos, etc.) around in the streets.
I'll have more observations in future updates.
