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| We spent quite a bit of time in the Shōsei-en Garden, associated to the Higashi Hongan-ji Temple (larger image). |
Tuesday, 27 May: our first day in Kyōto ( part I )
I took a lot of pictures this day, in contrast to the day before. The day split naturally in two, rainy at first in the morning, so I had only the iPhone with me till we returned to our ryokan to do laundry. After that I took my fancy camera out when we walked through Kyōto, went to dinner, and walked some more. So I have divided the day’s experience in two, this page for the earlier session, the next page for the later. The account here starts with a quote from my journal:
«Our train to Kyōto was at 9:03, and since our hotel was a good distance from the rail station, I suggested that we call two cabs to take us there. No fighting with a bus! No walk to the bus-route! Everybody agreed that this was a good idea.
«We got to the station in plenty of time, and got settled in for a relatively unthrilling two-hour train ride. Not much spectacular scenery, except for some hillsides covered with what I imagined to be Cryptomeria.
«By the time we got ourselves together in the Kyōto train station, it was 11:30, so we had lunch right there. The station is immense, a virtual vertical Wall of Japan, with very many restaurants. We settled for Ton Katsu something-or-other, a place specializing in tonkatsu, pork cutlet deep fried. I chose a dish with a small portion of tonkatsu, and a few shrimps tempura. All good.
«Our hotel, Matsubaya Ryokan, is a very short walk from the station, and we dumped our stuff there before walking to the Higashi Hongan-ji, Buddhist. It’s big, supposedly one of the biggest wooden buildings in the world. I had only my iPhone with me, so the pictures are not very good.»
The iPhone may not give the best photos, but it does have the “panorama” function, allowing super-wide angle pictures, some of which we have on this page. At any rate, the top picture at the right is the main building of the Hongan-ji, which as you see really is very big. The two below are of associated buildings. Every once in a while in these pictures, you see in the background the Kyōto Tower, showing in the middle picture on the right. On the left are two more pictures, taken inside this huge temple.
Associated with the temple is a nice garden, the Shosei-en. My journal remarks that it needed weeding, but I don’t see that in the pictures. Very notable was the huge convocation of herons we saw by one of the ponds, mostly in a tree. It was here that I wished that I had my good camera with me, ’cause the iPhone is useless for distance shots.
After the garden, we went back to the ryokan
to do laundry: this was our first opportunity since leaving Tōkyō. My
journal says nothing about lunch, and Mark says on
his
page that we just drank sake and beer. I find it difficult to believe
that this chow-hound geezer consented to skipping lunch without complaint,
but the journals seem to be silent on the issue.
We did get supper at least, though, even if it was not exactly our most satisfactory meal in Japan. But you’ll have to read all about that on the next page.