Kichijoji to Kyoto

We spent our last day in Tokyo wandering around the park in Kichijoji a suburb of Tokyo. The weather was so much better and there were lots of people out enjoying the park, walking their dog and browsing in the quirky shops, so we did the same (except for the dog part obviously).

There was a ceremony happening in the shrine so drum sounds drifted through the park.

The pond was a full of huge Koi Carp who had it in for the ducks. The ducks didn't seem to notice who was biting them.

It was even warm enough for painting in the park

Kichijoji is a little way out of central Tokyo so by the time we had stopped off for some food it was time to find our over night bus to Kyoto. We only had a vague idea where we were supposed to catch it from so we headed over early, this was a good idea as we had to be directed buy a brilliant JR rail employee who spoke no english with the use of our map that has no street names on it! We still made it to the stop a little early so we stopped by 7eleven for the heating (it seems so long ago that 7's were islands of aircon) and a hot lemon tea from a vending machine. On a side note hot drinks in cans from vending machines on street corners are the most brilliant things ever when waiting for a bus and should be imported to the UK by next winter, I am not sure how we live without them.

We were not sure what to expect from our night bus experience as it was cheap and the stop was at a normal bus stop rather than at a bus station. No need to worry, with typical Japanese efficiency the bus company attendant appeared from nowhere 15 minutes before the bus was due to depart, 10 minutes from departure the bus arrived, then bang on departure time we were off. The bus stopped for three toilet breaks in the night at exact 2 hour intervals and we arrived in Kyoto 20 minutes early at 0550.

This was a bit early to check into the hostel so we stopped and had a bowl of Ramen. After dropping our bags at the hostel we spent the day wandering the palace gardens and bumping into places that I recognised from the last time I came here.

The palace gardens are beautiful and look suspiciously like someone did a painting of them before actually laying out the gardens.

I always smile when I see the trees with crutches

There is not much blossom about yet but a few buds are breaking through

Kyoto is so full of beautiful, peaceful spaces it is very different from Tokyo. There is a lot of history to see here as well (there are 17 world heritage sites here!), but we are just enjoying wondering the parks and quiet streets full of surprising buildings.