The next morning, after a quick breakfast at the Nikko Kanaya, we took a taxi back to the train station and boarded the local train to Utsunomiya.
At Utsunomiya, we changed to a shinkansen to Tokyo, and then transferred to another shinkansen to Kyoto. We had very good instructions taken off the forums about how exactly to get to our hotel, and since we were travelling very light, we took the subway from Kyoto's amazing train station to Karasuma Oike, and walked two minutes to get to the front door of our hotel, the Hotel Monterey Kyoto. More information on the Accomodations page.
Kyoto is famous for its unending collection of temples and shrines among other things, and having seen a whole lot yesterday, we decided for a change of pace. We spent the afternoon aimlessly wandering down Shijo-dori and Teramachi arcade, which helped us to refresh our minds a bit, as well as allowed us to become familiar with the surroundings.
Teramachi arcade as well as the arcade on the next street are covered market streets with many cafes, souvenir and other one off shops, such as this one selling pickles.
Or this one with its collection of fans.
We then made our way to the Nishiki market.
The Nishiki market is primarily a food market, and although I was initially not wild about visiting basically Japan's version of Hong Kong's wet markets, with everything hanging out, so to speak, I had to venture in some distance to meet one of my principal shopping objectives for the trip - a good set of Japanese knives. Aritsugu, in the Nishiki market, is one of the best places to get a handmade carbon steel knife. More details on the shopping page.
We stumbled upon this beautiful temple within the arcade. All lit up, it provided a peaceful retreat from the hubbub all around.
We made our way towards the river and took the last turning left before the bridge to emerge onto Ponto-cho, the ancient entertainment area in Kyoto. It is like entering another world - old houses, with beautiful courtyard gardens lit up with lanterns, and graceful norens , or doorway curtains, delicately screening the outside from the atmosphere within.
From simple bars.....
....to elegant tea houses....
...and shops.
From modern establishments...
....to the hilarious !
We finally found a place where I had some scope of finding something to eat. This place Cavallina is absolutely delightful. The chef has been trained in Italy and drummed up a great meal. I really wanted to be able to eat inside one of these heritage structures and did get to eat very well. More details on the Meals page.
We walked back to the hotel and geared up for the frenetic days to follow.
