Our last full day in Kyoto required an early start. We began with a bus ride to Nijo Castle where we spent several hours exploring the fortifications, the beautiful gardens, climbing the remains of the keep tower, and touring the palace.
Most fascinating thing we learnt today - nightingale floors were not deliberately made, they grew that way from wear and tear.
Most of the screens and paintings in the palace were reproductions, and as with other heritage buildings we have visited in Japan, it remained mostly unfurnished. So while you don't really get to see a slice of daily life, you can see the bones of the builing. While I appreciate the architecture I DO like to get an idea of the rythmn and rituals around how people actually lived then.
Exhasted and hungry again next stop was lunch and Matt was VERY happy when we happened to walk past a brew pub he'd read about. I enjoyed their home made lemon drink but the chirashi sushi was decidedly ordinary, however, Matt said his smoked bits and bites were delicious.
On the way to our next stop we visited a street shrine before going to the Samaurai and Ninja Museum and Experience - good fun as well as educational. You were able to get up close to real suits of armour and handle reproduction weapons. After the museum tour, an interactive session where you got to try throwing shuriken and dressing up.
Late in the afternoon was a train ride to Fushimi Inaria Taisha to see the famous 1000 Tori Gates. Despite the crowds you were able to walk as far as you wished through the gates.
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Back to Omiya station we dined on another local specialty, Okonomoyaki. Not a favourite dish of mine as there is lots of cabbage and bulldog sauce - but it was nice to get a lot of vegies!
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Kombini special of the day.
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