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| Last tasty breakfast at the buffet at Westin Tokyo. |
Today we were leaving Tokyo and heading to Kyoto! I was excited but also a bit sad. We had another tasty breakfast at the Westin Tokyo before doing a final check of our hotel room to make sure we didn't leave anything behind. Since we had sent most of our luggage ahead to Kyoto via the Takuhaibin service (review here), we didn't really have that much to search through or to carry. Can I say again how much I love luggage delivery in Japan??
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| Waiting to board our bullet train. |
We had pre-ordered our tickets on the Shinkansen (i.e., bullet train) through the hotel concierge (with fees, approx. $110 per person). I think it was the Tokaido Line which takes you to Osaka and then Kyoto in about 2 hours! It's cheaper if you get tickets directly at the train station but we wanted the convenience and the reserved seating. (Also, we noticed our concierge got us the roomiest row of seats. Go concierge!)
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| Here it comes! |
Fortunately the concierge had advised us to catch the train at Shingawa Station (instead of Tokyo Station) since it was a bit closer to our hotel and less crowded than Tokyo Station. The taxi driver that took us to Shingawa was an old pro and took us into some secret underground tunnel route and got us to the station in no time. He didn't speak English but was super helpful and got us to the closest entrance for the bullet train.
We had time after breakfast to pick up some bento boxes from the fancy food markets at Ebisu Station to take with us on our train ride. (As an aside, there was a bakery stall that sold this amazing layered pound cake - absolutely divine!)
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| If you see this cake (and this brand), buy it! You won't regret it. |
But back to bento boxes - eating bento box lunches on the train is probably my favorite thing about riding on the bullet train ... even more so than the amazing speed and cleanliness of the bullet train. Not sure what that says about me... Every station we went through had stores or kiosks that sold bento boxes so there's no need to buy them in advance like we did. At Shingawa, there is also a quiet and clean lounge area to sit in while you wait for your train.
When it was time to board, we found our seats (just look for the correct carriage/seat number) and settled in for the ride. At some point, a conductor came around to scan our tickets, so I would advise keeping your tickets somewhere handy and not in your luggage.
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| Bento Box Lunch - with pork katsu, rice and pickled vegetables. |
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| Bento Box Lunch - with grilled salmon, braised veggies and rice. |
The ride was very comfortable. We feasted on our bento box lunches (which were very tasty), listened to some music on our Ipads, and then before we knew it, we had arrived in Kyoto!
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| Scene heading out of Tokyo. |
Since we only had our backpacks, we easily got on the subway (our SUICA cards work here!) and then looked for the hotel shuttle from Kyoto Brighton Hotel (review to come next week).
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| Lobby of Kyoto Brighton Hotel. |
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| My tea and mochi (covered in soy powder). |
Our room wasn't quite ready yet so we had some refreshments in the lobby cafe - a beer for my husband and green tea (matcha) and mochi for me.
After settling in our room (with all our luggage safely delivered), we took a walk to the Imperial Palace, but we did not have reservations so we couldn't go inside. The grounds were still worth visiting however - but if you want to see the inside, remember to make reservations in advance.
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| Manga Museum in the distance. |
Energized from our walk, we decided to take the subway and visit the Manga Museum. They didn't allow pictures instead, but basically there were shelves of manga (comic books), an exhibit showing the history and evolution of manga, and some smaller exhibits of art work. It was actually quite interesting but most of it was in Japanese so we couldn't enjoy reading the manga. I did pick up Howl's Moving Castle in English but have yet to break the plastic on the set. There was also a preview of the live action Attack on Titan movie that looked super cool. I hope they show it in the U.S. soon. Overall I would only recommend this museum for avid lovers of manga.
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| Typical alleyway in Gion. |
After our manga fix, we took the subway to the Gion area to explore. Without any particular goal, we roamed around the many alleyways of bars and restaurants while I tried to explain to my husband that geisha were not bar girls or prostitutes. I explained that it was quite rare to see geisha and they would not be found at a bar with a logo of legs coming out of a martini glass.
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| A dessert shop in Gion - and no, that lady is not a geisha even though my husband insisted. |
Soon we were hungry and we decided to be adventurous and pick a restaurant at random. Yakitori Torise seemed pleasant from the outside and when we first walked in, there were only a few Japanese gentlemen seating at the bar. We grabbed seats at the bar also and was immediately greeted by the owner/chef, who was very friendly. He didn't speak much English but found us the one English menu so we could order.
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| With this logo, how can you not order chicken? |
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| Our english menu, with some helpful pictures. |
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| Give me some sake! |
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| The chicken wings were delicious! We ordered two or was it three orders? |
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| Chicken and scallions, and chicken on lotus root. |
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| Grilled pork belly - mmmm |
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| Grilled shiso peppers and bonito flakes. |
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| Smoky grilled mushrooms. |
We ended up ordering tons of tasty small plates and sake. The restaurant soon got packed, so we were lucky to find it when we did! If you are in the area, check this restaurant out! Everything was delicious and the owner made us feel very welcome.
After dinner we were stuffed and had to walk around to digest a little. And lo and behold, after all my protestations, we actually saw some geisha (or perhaps maiko - geishas in training) crossing the street! We tried to take some pictures stealthily - unlike the rude tourist lady who ran up to them and stuck a camera an inch from their faces. Don't do that people!
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| An elusive sighting! |
When the excitement of the sighting passed, we stopped to rest in Rigoletto Bar and had some tasty calvados, which admittedly, is a more fun way to aid digestion.
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| Nightcap at Rigoletto Bar. |
Our first day in Kyoto was a success! Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!
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