Kyoto, Japan

 LOTS of buses waiting in the parking lot for our cruise ship. We boarded ours at 8:15 and it was full.
Our guide spoke about the sights while we traveled the 1-3/4 hour trip away from Kobe to get to Kyoto,
the original capital of Japan before it moved east to Tokyo. Mostly, we drove on a crowded interstate
highway from large town to large town, each divided by bridges over lots of waterways.

Kyoto’s history is Japan’s history which we’ve heard many different times by many different guides: a
feudal system organized into feudal lords who eventually hired samurai warriors who then became
rulers themselves called Shogun, whose emperor closed the country to the world who was then
influenced by American Commander Matthew Perry to open and now Japan is flourishing. (regardless of tsunamis, earthquakes, and WW2) Kyoto is known as the college city because there are over 30 colleges here. 10% of Kyoto’s 1.5 million people are college students.

Before I continue, something MUST be said about our competent tour bus drivers who whip these

oversize whales-on-wheels around tight corners, tiny parking lots, and lines them up with over twenty to fifty other buses in small parking lots near the sights we wish to see. You also need to know that it’s that time of the school year where field trips are happening for all ages of students who are in various school uniforms being transported by huge tour buses themselves. Today was the first day that we felt the heaviness of numbers as we saw a unique site: the Golden Palace.

You’ll know immediately why it is named such as it is a pagoda-shaped palace (originally built by a

powerful samurai in 1397) that has been restored many times due to fires but this time glows as the sun
reflects off of more than 20 kilograms of pure gold. Mirror Pond which surrounds the palace has stones
in shape of Japan’s islands so that the powerful samurai could boast that he has Japan right in front of
him.

We had 50 minutes for lunch. Imagine our consternation when we found that there were about 150

others in many buses who also had lunch in the same place. Huh. Then imagine our dropped jaws when
all 150 or so were seated in long rows of tables with boxed lunches in front of us. Yup, real wooden
boxes with sections inside for sushi, pickled vegetables, a tofu patty, and we’re not sure what else. Soup
was served as we sat and we were basically finished in 20 minutes! You’ll believe the photos…
Then we went another 20 minutes to the Nijo-jo Castle which is a World Heritage Site. Built about 400
years ago by the first Shogun, it is the formal site for each Emperor’s enthronement ceremony. We
didn’t go inside to see some of its famous paintings, but we wandered the grounds and took more
photos. Unique to this one is that the Shogun was also a Tea Ceremony Master, so there’s also a formal
tea room.
After a long drive back, it was good to get back on the ship.