We checked out of our wonderful apartment in Osaka and headed over to Kyoto via a regular train. Now that we’re experts :), it was pretty stress free even though we had our two large bags. Carrying them up the stairs wasn’t a lot of fun, though. My suitcase is a standard two-wheel roller pull-behind, which caused some problems at the train station. Everyone has four-wheel rollers that they push beside them, so people weren’t used to my old school bag and at least one person put their foot under my wheels because they weren’t expecting a bag to be dragging behind me.
Kyoto started out beautiful out of the station.
We were able to drop our bags off, but not check in, so we went to find something to eat, which turned out to be a dumpling spot near the Higashi Hongan-ji Temple. The dumplings were delicious and cheap.
The temple is one of the largest wood buildings in the world and is a couple of blocks away from Kyoto station. We passed it in the taxi on our way to the hotel and it looked magnificent, so we killed some time walking in and around the temple buildings. Sections of the corners of the beams in the temple were painted white, which looks really cool. We saw it again at another temple, so there must be a reason for it. Hopefully I’ll find out before we leave Kyoto.
The food trucks here are soooo cute and tiny! This one is mostly a set for taking tourist pictures and the food service happens in the front.
After checking in, showering, and changing; we headed to Kobe to visit one of the few true tiki bars in Japan called the Kazan Room.
Since we were in Kobe, I decided that I wanted the true Kobe Teppanyaki experience. It was an experience. I liked making the old chef laugh by turning their “I say Kobe…You say Beef” schtick around on him. The steak was good, but not $150 better than the Wagyu or Kobe Beef we had on a stick in Osaka for less than $10.
We found The Kazan Room and planted a Jungle Flower sticker near the entrance. We walked in and saw a couple that we’ve met at several tiki events in the USA. We also met a guy who lives less than 2 miles from our house! Lastly, we got spend some time with a couple of friends from Texas who had basically the same reaction to their Kobe Beef experience.
We had to get up early the next morning, so we headed home on the hottest train we’ve been on yet. Everyone, including us, kept nodding off.
It was a pretty laid back day, but we were exhausted and fell into bed when we got home.
My Garmin says that we walked 5.30 miles, but I forgot to turn it on a couple of times, so it’s probably closer to 7.
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