The Last Day & Another Toilet Story

Kyoto was crying for us when we left for Tokyo this morning. Actually, it was just raining but I thought a little drama might spice up the blog as we come to the close of this tour.  In fact, Japan cried all over us today and I could have done with a few less tears. I got tears on my shoes, all over my pants and my umbrella leaked tears all over my lap. Enough of this crying. Stop it. We promise to come back.

We departed Kyoto’s Four Seasons hotel after another wonderful breakfast. You know you are in a high class place when they serve crispy bacon. And you know the bacon is crispy because they serve it standing up on the buffet. It’s a sight to behold. I also learned my lesson about numbers of items. The Japanese much prefer that things come in odd numbers. Check out the photo of my fruit plate from this morning. It is a symphony of odd numbers. Good luck should swirl all around me.

Crispy Bacon standing tall

7 Blueberries, 3 Strawberries, & 1 Cantelope

I can’t leave the Four Seasons without another kudo to the high tech toilet. At the Four Seasons they really upped the bathroom game.  When you opened the door to the WC, the toilet lid automatically popped up. Our buddy Bert said that in all of his 32 years as a plumber, he finally felt he received some respect since the toilet saluted him each time he entered the space.

We once again successfully navigated the entry and exit to the bullet train and did not lose a single tour participant. The Japanese train system is a marvel to behold. In just over two hours we were spirited from Kyoto to Tokyo.

Final Bullet Train Ride

Two hours is a magical number. On these tours, it is mandatory that we eat every two hours. I think it is some law enforced by the International Association of Tour Companies. So, as soon as we arrived in Tokyo, we were on the coach and headed to lunch at Tokyo’s version of the famed Nabu restaurant. In this our penultimate meal, we were treated to Bento boxes. The superb presentation was the perfect delight for those people who don’t like different types of food touching each other on their plate. And in an acknowledgement to our American roots, we were give a little card that identified each substance or group of substances in each little section of the box.

Well fed, we headed to our final activity, Taiko drumming. We were each given two big sticks and a large drum and it was suggested that we beat the living daylights out of it. I think this was intended to prevent anyone from taking out their accumulated aggression on the Tour Director. It was the perfect ending activity. We were all worn out and mellow when we exited the drumming studio.

We had just enough time to reach the hotel, change clothes and jump on the coach for a trip to our Closing Ceremonies, as the Lady like to call our final dinner. Remember that two-hour rule.  In another bid to protect himself, the Tour Director had hired two Sumo Wrestlers as body guards. Totally intimidated, we meekly sat at our tables and ate peacefully. As a reward, the Tour Director had his guards give us a demonstration of the Sumo arts. Those are really big fellas.

Now we are back at the hotel trying to figure out where we are going to pack all those Far Eastern treasures we have acquired. I managed to store two bottles of Sake in my New Balance shoes. If anything happens, I’ll have a pair of very relaxed tennis shoes. The Lady who is an absolute whiz at packing is circling the suitcases like a tiger on the hunt. A pile of presents and semi-full suitcases are her Rubik’s cube. It is a sight to behold.

That about wraps it up. I’m so glad you could join us on this little adventure. I’m sure you probably didn’t have as much fun as we did, but I’m also sure it cost you considerably less. We experienced travelers call that value.

Hopefully, we’ll see you next time.

A Free Day - Mostly

Today, at least for the morning and afternoon, we were on our own. As expected, the Lady who sets the itinerary had laid out a forced march across Kyoto for us. I may have to have footectomy when I get back to Georgia.

I’m not sure how she slipped up, but she managed to let us sleep until 8am with breakfast following at a leisurely 9 am. How very civilized. That completed, we hit the road. First stop, Sanjusangen-do Temple, which was a short walk from our hotel.

This temple is unique in that it is the longest wooden building in Japan and contains 1001 statues of the Buddhist deity, made of Japanese cypress. 124 of them were made in the 12^th century and the remaining 876 were made in the 13^th century. They do hang on to their diety statues around here. One of our friends on the tour said this site was somewhat reminiscent of the Terra Cotta Warriors in China. However, these statues were not carrying weapons and were arrayed on choir-like risers along the length of the building.

Photography inside the temple was forbidden but below I’ve included several of the building and garden.

It was a bit chilly and breezy today, so we popped back by the hotel to add a couple of layers of clothing before heading to our next stop. Overall, the weather on this trip has been a little less than perfect, fairly cold (mid-50’s to low 60’s) and rain most of the time. We have forgiven the weather gods since the cherry blossoms have been monumentally spectacular.

We headed next to the Fushimi Inari Shrine, also known as the shrine of 10,000 gates. This sect is the patron of business and many businesses donated the gates.  A winding path takes you through the many gates as you walk to the top of the mountain. We gave out after about 350 of the gates and opted to head back to the comfort of the souvenir shops. Of course, I purchased a small replica gate. The Grant household will now be known as the shrine of the 1 gate.

Having checked the shrine visit boxes, we were enticed to discover the Philosophers Walk. Located near Kyoto University, the two-mile path is called that because the influential 20^th century Japanese philosopher and Kyoto University professor Nishida Kitaro is thought to have used it for daily meditation. It is a beautiful walk along a stream made dazzling today because it is lined with blossoming cherry trees. It seemed that the entire town of Kyoto had joined us for the walk.

(L-R) Bert, Betsy, Denise & Me on the Path

Our evening ended with a lovely dinner and a performance by two Geisha, a maiko and a geiko. The younger, the maiko, performed a dance called Showers of Spring and was accompanied on a stringed instrument by the geiko, the older Geisha. These very talented women are part of a vanishing breed with only about 200 remaining in the Kyoto area. We were privileged to see a performance of this disappearing cultural tradition.

Denise with the geiko

The maiko's performance of the Showers of Spring

This just in. Bert was keeping up with the number of steps we walked today. I told you earlier it was a forced march. Now I have the proof. Total number of steps: 11,799.

My feet hurt.

Cherry Blossoms All The Time

Sometimes you just get lucky. Now the Lady who does most of our trip planning did set out to place us in the best position to experience Japanese cherry blossoms, but even the best planners find it hard to hit an event that only lasts a few days and can occur within a 30-day period.
But nail it, she did. We were anxious in Tokyo where we saw trees and blossoms numbering in the 10’s. As we made our way to several other locations, we would see a blossom here and there, but when we arrived in Kyoto we hit the jackpot.

Now, Kyoto is a lovely city with numerous shrines and parks that are great on their own, but we got the multi-layer cake with the cherry blossom filling: up and down the avenues, on the various temple grounds we visited and tucked away down byways and alleys. Every direction you look you see cherry trees offering up their blossoms for your delight.

We have certainly gotten our money’s worth of cherry blossoms. All hail the Lady who now carries the mantel of trip planner extraordinaire. How will she top this? Only time will tell.

Today’s activities began in the land of the eternal umbrella but gradually the rain skittered away, revealing lighter grey skies and one or two sunbeams. It warmed considerably but the best thing was not having to peruse the trees and blossoms from beneath the bumper shoot.

We visited the Kiyomizu Temple early which allowed us to see the place with only hundreds of our new Japanese friends instead of thousands. One of this Temple’s claims to fame is an area where three streams of water emerge from a sacred spring and by drinking from one of them you can choose health, wealth or wisdom. You capture your sip with communal cups on really long handles. For the bacteria phobic, between uses, the cups reside in a stand that bathe them in ultraviolet light. Clever, these Japanese.

The temple sits high on a hill offering unparalleled views of the city and of course cherry trees on the hillside.

We next headed back downtown to experience a Cliff Notes version of the Japanese Tea Ceremony and to learn a bit of Origami. We learned that the formal Japanese Tea Ceremony lasts four hours and since Americans get antsy after sitting still for 35 minutes, they hit the high points and got us semi-educated in about 30 minutes. Keeping in mind our inability to sit still for long, another person taught us to fold one item of Origami and provided an instruction book for other projects. We also saw a delightful demonstration of Furoshiki which involves the use of a square wrapping cloth traditionally used to transport clothes, gifts or other goods. The women who presented the demonstrations are part of a group who volunteer to help keep Japanese traditions alive. One thing we particularly like about the Tauck tour organization is that they look for local groups like this to support.

Tea Ceremony

Furoshiki Demonstration

Our tour obligation completed for the day, we were free to roam at will.  Our Tour Director told us to get lost, literally. He reminded us that Kyoto is a very safe city with really no areas off limits. We had long lists of culturally uplifting sites to discover, places to expand our historic knowledge and ideas to spend a relaxing day. So, of course, guided by the Lady who delights in telling me where to go, we headed immediately for the Kyoto Handicraft Center. Why relax or expand your mind when you can shop?

The trouble was that while we sort of knew where the Handicraft Center was, we weren’t really sure where we were. Now, if you know anything about getting from here to there, you have to know either here or there. It also helps if you know more of the local language than Hello and Thank you.

Thank goodness for my Boy Scout training. Map in hand with three skeptics in tow, I led the forced march across Kyoto right to the Handicraft Center. The walk didn’t look all that far on the map but it was a bit farther than we thought we’d have to walk.

I loved the Handicraft Center, but not for the reason you might be thinking. It had an actual bench for sitting where I could rest and watch the Lady, who shops in a frenzy, shop away --  and I didn’t have to frenzy around with her.

We contributed significantly to the economy of Kyoto there, then headed out to find a watch store that friend Bert wanted to visit. That was a challenge because each of the four of us remembered a slice of information related to the store’s location. The scout leader (me) got us to within a block or two of the location and the steely-eyed shoppers took us in for a landing. It’s all about the teamwork.

Of course, by now, we are hungry so we started trying to find someplace to eat. There were those among us who didn’t want Japanese food. Dilemma. Our salvation came under the, wait for it, golden arches. Yes, we wandered past a McDonalds and jumped at the chance to compare a Japanese Big Mac to an American Big Mac. I opted for a Teriyaki Burger and Fries and it was quite nice. The Vegetarian Lady who never met an ice cream treat she would pass up opted for McFlurry. Betsy and Bert shared a burger and all was right with the world. Interesting piece of commercial trivia: The red background behind the McD’s logo is a muted red, not the brilliant red we are used to because of the cultural influence of Kyoto.

Congratulating ourselves on a successful outing, we cabbed it back to the hotel. The entire day tomorrow is ours to do as we please. Betsy and the Lady who is on a touring roll have mapped out an exhausting final day for us in Kyoto.

I think I’ll go to sleep now.