There was mist on the mountains of Kyoto when I woke up this morning.
It had rained overnight and everything was still very wet and drippy. This was kind of a bummer, because my plan for today was to go wander around Arashiyama, a bamboo forest up on the mountainside. Seemed like a gross day to do it, but the innkeeper suggested that it might be the perfect time to go–the mist would probably make everything look pretty cool.
She was right!
The bamboo forest itself was neat to walk through–it’s just a narrow trail through these seemingly endless walls of bamboo.
It was actually a great day to be out in nature–there was that ‘rain-soaked plants’ smell that always gives me a great dopamine hit. The weather today, though, could best be described as ‘Floridian’–a little too warm and incredibly humid. As soon as I walked out the door, my bangs started to corkscrew just like they do in Florida.I had no choice but to deal with it.
There are a bunch of temples and shrines in and around Arashiyama. Halfway through the forest, there was a large temple with an extensive garden that you could enter for a modest fee. Never once on this trip has that proven to be a bad idea, so I went for a little walk inside.
I wandered around the mountain until mid-afternoon, at which point I had a late lunch and headed back into Kyoto proper. One of the things I was interested in seeing in Kyoto was Nijo Castle, which has been around since the early days of the Shogunate. It takes up several city blocks in the middle of town. I got off the subway at the wrong end of it and it was a ten minute walk just to get around the side to the entrance.
Unfortunately, when I arrived I found the place absolutely swarming with school groups and the ticket line longer than I felt like waiting, so I headed to the station early for my bullet train.
Follow me on the logic here–there are no nonstop flights back to Chicago out of Kyoto. I would have to go on to Osaka or back to Tokyo. I wasn’t really interested in seeing Osaka, and I’m already kind of familiar with Tokyo. At least, I’m familiar with how to get to the part of Tokyo that I’m going to next. And that’s a place that going to feel extremely familiar.
Yep. I already feel right at home.
Laura Writes 