Himeji Castle

So 

let me again remind everyone that it was Golden week and we were stopping at Himeji Castle (most famous castle in Japan or at least the largest that is still standing). We were on our way from Nagasaki to Kyoto so we had all our luggage with us. All of us scrambled at the station to find coin lockers to shove our stuff in to. After failing miserably, Mil, our tour leader stayed with the bags and Alain took us out too the castle. The place was gorgeous and the grounds are huge. It was kind of like a maze but because of the millions of people that were visiting Himeji, for the castle and the confectionary exhibition everything was optimized for speed to churn people through. The wait to get into the castle was supposed to be 90 minutes. We got off the train with only 2 hours to go see the castle, come back and get another reserved seated shinkansen to Kyoto. A few people who were smart raced ahead from the start and got in but a bunch of us didn't get the chance. That's alright though. We found a great and tiny ramen stand and had some gyoza (dumplings) and noodles. Fabulous!

Kyoto

I mentioned the hotel a little bit already, the first night we were there we went on a mission to find a great bar. We had already been to an amazing little place in Nagasaki called Paranoia. It was a totally chill place with a baby grand, dark mood lighting, bench seats, glossy black painted furniture (worn down) and brick walls. The proprietor was a pretty chill asian main with a serious influence from the reggae vibes of Jamaica and had a wicked hair style to boot. Kinda clean slicked back in the front and afro in the back. He pulled it off though.

So back to finding this place in Kyoto. We set off, a bunch of us with Alain as our leader. We had already taken some amazing night shots of a great temple in Gion about 10-15 minutes by bus from our hotel and wanted something to wet the whistle. Joanie and I had felt we stayed in too many nights and time was slipping away so we were out to make the best of it. We walked down some smaller streets in Gion looking for a bar. The first building we went into we went into the elevator and went to each floor to find every place was closed and the floor was now dimly lit because the signage was not on. Pretty creepy. We were all about the kind of odd small buildings with 20 different signs and the elevators. So we wondered and looked for another one. There were some pretty nice signs that might suggest to some that a few of them were night clubs so we boarded the elevator and pressed the button for the fifth floor... Repeatedly. The button would not illuminate so we did the next best thing, pressed 4. The button lit up with that fantastic yellowish light through shiny plastic way and the elevator lifted upward. We arrived on the fourth floor and the doors opened. We all froze!

K.. this is super weird. There was nothing on the floor. It was like an abandoned floor, there were no lights, not to mention no interior walls or finishing of any sort. It looked like the place had been demoed right down the concrete and then some, there was some rebar sticking out in some places toward the back of the room and it all felt like some creepy zombie movie. I doubt anyone was there but there was so much darkness, we definitely couldn't be sure so we closed the elevator door, b lined for the main floor walked again out into the street. We decided to try a more main street type place and found an Irish pub. Amazing! It was hard to tell we were in Japan by the people sitting around our table, if we didn't look at the menus that is. There were a number of people in the bar just doing what people in a bar do. It's such a difference from the hustle and bustle of the transit etc. It was nice to see. We all had a good time, had some Kyoto 1849 beer or something like that and called it a night. It was going to be a busy day the following day. It was another free day because Mil wanted to avoid the crazy congestion we experienced at Himeji. It was one more day of the prime days of Golden Week so that's all good.

We went and saw tens of thousands of Shinto gates! It was ridiculous and amazing.

While in Kyoto we also saw some amazing Shines and temples. I'll do a blog specifically about those later tonight and do a final catch up blog and post a ton of pictures. Sorry I didn't make it last night but it was the groups last night as a whole group. Many people are on their way home. It's kinda sad.

Anyway, time for some amazing Goemon Japanese Italian fusion!

Love from Tokyo, Japan.

Anyway right now we're at Kangetsu Ryokan by Ochidoricho station in Tokyo. It's a nice place but we've got to get out to meet Maya for dinner.