The Dillers are in Japan!: Kyoto

So, we jumped the gun and posted our Geisha/Samurai pictures already, but they actually didn't happen until day 3 in Kyoto so we're going to rewind a bit. Joel and I were originally planning a Tokyo trip over Memorial Day (as an early 5 year anniversary trip), but changed our mind a few weeks ago because of limited travel options and wanting to maximize our time with a 3 day weekend.

Good move on our part. We rented a car from base (a brand new Camry, which had a push to start engine button - so high tech and what a smooth ride!) which was nice because it covered the costs of tolls (which wound up being over $100 each way!!). We drove up to Kyoto with the assistance of my "map" app on my iPhone and spent all day Sat, Sun, and Mon there. A big shout out to TripAdvisor.com for the amazing tips and pointers for everything from the hotel to the restaurants and the sight seeing!

So here are our pics from Day 1. Of course, me being me, I had the whole weekend mapped out via outline form complete with addresses (if we can call them that, ha ha - Japan doesn't really use addresses as we are used to in the States) and the order in which to be most time efficient. Be warned: This is a super long blog, because there's so much to talk about!! Kyoto is an AMAZING city and one we hope to go back to a bunch because there are endless things to do.

Kyoto itself is a city that kinda reminded us of Chicago. But, all the sudden you'll come across a shrine or temple or something else ancient that lets you know this city has a lot of history.

We walked most everywhere instead of taking the bus because we wanted to burn some calories knowing we were going to be eating a lot of good food. :)

Kyoto is VERY CLEAN. Thank you Japan for your high standards and people that follow through!

There is a very large park, similar to Central Park in NYC, that folks can spend hours in. We saw folks sleeping, playing, throwing baseballs, etc here. This is also the site of the Imperial Palace so there were a lot of walls and places we weren't allowed to enter.

This is one of the gates in and out of the park.

A typical Japanese apartment complex with really exposed porches! The apartments here are super tiny and expensive!

Here is an example of the new being built around the old.

At this point, Joel and I had walked nearly 4 miles to get to the Golden Pavilion and we were so close! We just had to get through this neighborhood first.

More of the neighborhood we walked through on our way to the Golden Pavilion.

Joel stopped to stretch his quads because we doing so much walking!

What is it about a good mossy tree that makes me think of Lord of the Rings??

It was really crowded at the walkway to the Golden Pavilion.

A map of the entire place.

For you history buffs that want to know more about Japan.

Supposedly, the Golden Pavilion is one of Kyoto's top visited sites.

Here it is! The Golden Pavilion! Apparently, on a really sunny day you can barely look at it because it's so reflective.

A rooster on top?

It was surrounded by a moat and man made mini-islands.

We heard that the green tea in Kyoto is some of the best so we stopped at this small cafe at the Golden Pavilion to try some.

We each got a sweet sugar cake and a green tea.

Very decorative and very sugary rich. When you took a bite of this and then had a sip of green tea, it was heavenly.

The green tea itself was creamy and frothy.

Inside the sugar cake was adzuki bean- it's purple and only slightly sweet, but really delicious.

A group of young Japanese students stopped us and asked if they could practice their English with us. They were adorable reading from a scripts and asking us to write them a note they could translate later.

Joel was really psyched to see Nijo Castle.

It truly was an ancient Japanese castle, complete with a moat, in the middle of downtown Kyoto.

More history lessons. Our friends named their Cocker Spaniel "Shogun"

Sadly, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the castle itself, which was SO SUPER COOL! But, we took a lot of pictures of the grounds and surrounding buildings.

We had to take off our shoes to walk around inside the castle itself. The floors were made in such a way as to "creak" so no one could sneak in and take over. It was creepy - s really different kind of "squeak". But the interior was GORGEOUS. Beautiful paintings on the ceilings and wood craftsmanship like I've never seen!

Back on the grounds.

These girls wanted their picture with us, Made us feel like rock stars! LOL

Beautiful.

Gorgeous.

Someone was getting a tour inside the castle so these students decided to spy through the grates.

The grounds were extensive inside the moat. Our feet were KILLING us at this point and we were starving for lunch thus we bee-lined it through. Needless to say, we need to go back and take more time here.

A cute German couple took this for us. We saw a TON of Europeans in Kyoto, not so many Americans.

Joel and I finished at Nijo Castle and had a mile walk to the restaurant we chose for lunch.This is the intersection a block away from the castle, crazy huh?

This restaurant was really modern and eclectic. Really cool ambiance and fresh green tea.

Their lunch menu for the day,

I ordered the fish set.

Joel ordered the pork curry - best curry either of us has tasted yet, btw.

We had to.

Interesting architecture.

This is Koichi Kobayashi. We met him in the lounge at our hotel during happy hour. He's a 73 year old president of an oil company. He's traveled the world and is really sophisticated, as evidenced by this picture, LOL. I asked him if I could take his picture for our blog and this was his pose of choice. :) He was SO nice and gave us his card so we could call him next time we're in Kyoto. Here he is on his website: http://www.kvc-kyoto.co.jp/english/about/index.html

This was the amazing bartender at the lounge. Apparently, he's the head bartender of all the Kyoto Royal Hotel chains and his finesse in making drinks cannot be beat. He was awesome. Too bad all we ordered was beer. :-p

This is John. He's a Brit and has lived in Japan for 35 years because he fell in love with a Japanese woman. She's behind him hiding, ha ha. They have a movie star daughter in California.