Our first day in Kyoto

Our first day in Kyoto.  Finding breakfast was easy, just out the door and down the street to  a lift set in a shop front. Something that never occurred to me was how to get photos on to this blog. Real easy if you use  Windows. Not quite so intuitive to me at the moment, so photos may have to sit on Flickr, which although I now have an app for the ipad, I still am having fun with that. I have a suspicion all these things have issues with the Japanese language.

Delicious! See photos.  I thought this might be a good time to try out my new cash passport card. Imagine my surprise and shock when she took it,scanned It, and gave it back with no need for a pin or signature!

Breakfast!

Oh well, just better not lose that one. 

The number one attraction in Kyoto is the Kinkakuji Temple. Which from the map seemed miles away. So we decided to go have a look at the Imperial Palace as it seemed to be just North of us. To keep walking to a minimum, i planned to catch a subway train,just across the river. I expected a polluted fairly deep river because it was quite wide. Nope. About metre deep and crystal clear.

Rubbish bins: there are none.  Park benches to sit on-none of these either.

Here is the river:

Down into the subway and no, you have JR pass, not subway pass.  Grr! Time for a coffee. Drag mrs sore feet in direction of Imperial Palace. Nice grandiose gates, but no way to get inside, and someone's feet dictated a return to hotel needed. Rose reckons the temp was 35. High humidity too, so beer consumption was recommended.

Nice Gates:

All the way down Karasuma st, and Bill the famous navigator took a wrong turn, which was not relayed to the troops as these were a little tetchy. Think bright red face. My pedometer showed 27,000 that day,a personal best ( hi Martin!).

Dinner at Korean restaurant. You don't order, you buy tickets, which we messed up but still enjoyed whatever it was. Crab shells and noodles.

The street naming and layout was hard to get a hang of, being on a grid and with names like Kawaramachi. The tourist maps have very small print and are very cluttered. In hindsight, I should have memorised all the street names in the area of the hotel.

Typical street corner in Kyoto: