15

Saturday 11/3/2007

Today we woke up before the dawn and enjoyed watching the sun rise over Kyoto. Amber really wanted some cornflakes, so we decided to try the hotels buffet breakfast. They had great American style eggs, toast, sausage, bacon, fruit, and....CEREAL. They also had some Japanese breakfast, but I couldn't tell you how that tasted. Not even the Japanese were eating it. Everything was great but the fruit was REALLY great. I've never had melon that tasted so good. Amber didn't think she ate quite twenty-five dollars worth of cereal, but close enough. The view was from our hotels 15th floor and it was spectacular.

We started our sight seeing at Nijo castle. It had a tall stone wall, parapets, and even a mote. In the castles garden they were having a large gathering for the tea ceremony. It was fun to see all of the people in their traditional garb, including kimono. Inside the castle was a “nightingale” floor. It was so named because it chirps like a bird when people walk on it. This allowed the shogun (ruler of Japan) or his comrades to hear any intruders or assassins before they reached the royal rooms. Next we took a taxi to Kinkaku-ji, the temple of the golden pavilion, where we were impressed by the golden exterior and its pretty location in the middle of a zen pond and garden. On our way out we saw some delicious looking soft serve ice cream, but had to pass on it when we found out it was green tea and vanilla swirl. We decided to walk to the next temple. It was quite a little trek.

Ryoan-ji was next on the list. It is a world famous zen rock garden contained inside a temple and flanked by a sitting area on one side, and walls on the others. There are fifteen large rocks amidst a sea of tiny pebbles. From any spot looking into the garden one can see only 14 rocks. It is only with a view from above that one would be able to see all 15 rocks. In Buddhism the number 15 signifies completeness. The garden seems to be a metaphor indicating that, in this life, one may never fully see the meaning of all things. The rocks were all slightly different in color and texture. The tiny pebbles were raked in perfect rows from one side to the other. It had a very meditative atmosphere. We were happy to be able to sit down for a little while. We finished off our sight seeing by walking to Ninna-ji, a temple with a five story pagoda. By this time, we were all more than a little tired and templed-out.

We left the ancient world for the modern, returning to our hotel. We spend some time exploring the train station, shopping center, public gathering space, and restaurants located in the 15 stories below our hotel and comprising the train station area. We decided on ramen for dinner. More than just one, we had an entire floor dedicated to ramen-yas to choose from. The menu was also a vending machine. One inserted money, pressed the picture of the food desired, and gave the jettisoned ticket to the counter girl before being sat to wait for ones supper. The ramen noodles included slices of pork, Japanese pickles called tskemono, and vegetables. For soda refills we had to exit the eating area and repurchase a new ticket from the electric menu.

We finished the day by trying to play Japanese pachinko. One buys several hundred little silver balls and tries to shoot them into the right spots with a machine: think pinball on steroids. If one gets enough balls into the right spot they can win even more balls. Eventually these can be traded for extra cash. In essence it is Japan's main form of legalized gambling. When we entered the pachinko parlor the noise was deafening. Our ears actually hurt when we left 5 minutes later, and 1000 yen poorer.