We're in Kyoto!

Day 12

Early rise today. We had two stops before arriving in Kyoto in the evening: Okayama and Himeji.

The Marine Liner was our morning train, connecting Takamatsu to Okayama via bridges over the Seto Inland Sea. It passes several islands and one of them looked quite artificial, it has a rectangular shape and it is full of factories.

The bento boxes were overpriced for the quality. I did not like mine at all, it was dry and tasteless. They were probably not fresh. Bad choice!

About 50min later we arrived at Okayama. We got there early and there still were plenty of coin lockers at the station to keep our bags whilst visiting the castle. For ¥500 we managed to fit our three big backpacks in a single big locker.

On the way to the castle, pit stop at Tully's Coffee for a latte to wake me up. Average, Starbucks level. I'll keep looking.

Some interesting fountains on the way.

Okayama castle, aka Crow Castle, was built in 1597 but time and WWII destroyed it completely except for one turret. It was rebuilt in 1966 in concrete. Too modern inside to be interesting to visit but it has a black colour and golden details outside and it is marvelous. Today it featured a special exhibition of woodblock prints from the 17th and 18th century and that made it worth the visit.

The highlight for Manuel, and the only interesting things for him about the inside was that it had a litter you could try and  a lord/princess dress-up for up to five people every hour. Of course both me and Manuel had to dress-up!

Crossing the river to the island in the middle of the Asahi river we reached Koraku-En, a garden created in 1700 and considered one of the finest in Japan. It is different from the Takamatsu garden as it has wide lawns, less trees, several ponds and tea houses. It was very busy, many groups using the tea houses as pic-nic places. Not a bad spot at all considering that all of them have fine views of the garden. We didn't find out if you had to book to use them or if it was first come first serve but we saw a group heading to one of them as if it was their pre-intended destination and becoming very puzzled when they realised the tea house was completely closed and had people inside with an outer sign saying 'Do not open'. I stayed around a while for pure curiosity but polite as the japanese are they were taking their time to open the door and I decided not to wait around any more. It will remain a mistery to us.

There were four beautiful cranes in the garden. Sadly they were enclosed in a wired pen. My heart sunk! Such big majestic birds should be allowed freely in the garden. They should not be caged. Bad!

Train again. We had an hour gap to board Shinkansen Hikari to Himeji so we had a snack at the station. The ¥1090 I spent on a café au lait and a hot chocolate where a complete waste. The drinks were bad and overpriced. Mental note for the future: do not eat at the Shinkansen waiting area.

Nineteen minutes was all it took the shinkansen to get to Himeji. We found out why all seats in the trains face the direction of movement of the train. All seats are reversible, this meaning they swivel and are turned at the last stop by a train attendant so that everyone is facing the same direction. How cool is that?!? We tried turning one to face the other seat so we could face each other as we are an odd numbered group but this reduced your leg room and it wasn't very confortable.

This time we weren't as lucky with the coin lockers. The big ones were all being used and we had to, in a way forcefully, fit our bags in two small lockers at a cost of ¥500 per locker.

A walk to the castle from the station. Funny enough all castles seem to be 2km from the train stations. It has been like this for every single one we have visited so far. There must have been a rule of some sort when train routes were planned!

Himeji Castle, aka White Heron Castle, is considered a masterpiece of japanese architecture. It has shinny white plastered walls and it stands tall on top of the hill. It is a clear antithesis of Okayama Castle in which the first is white and big and the second black and small. Both are a beautiful sight!

Hoards of tourists. We could sense this was going to be painful! 

We were given special admission tickets to the Main Keep (the highest tower) and decided to go there first as it seemed it was going to be the most crowded area. We weren't wrong but it was more painful than antecipated.

The tower was all made of wood inside, so quite original, which was a plus. A huge queue of people going up the narrow steep stairs. There are stairs to go up and others to descend or else it would be impossible to go anywhere. On the second floor the progress was halted. We waited for a while. I considered sitting in the floor as my legs were getting tired but I don't think I could cope with the stinking  feet around me (as usual, shoes off at the entrance and in a plastic bag that you have to carry all the time you're inside!). 

Finally some ray of hope. We started moving again. When we reached the top we felt like sheep. You go with the flow, you go with the crowd. There is no benefit in trying any other way. It's useless! 

Tourists visit castles to see the view from the main tower and that's it. It is an excellent view, I will not argue that, but it would have been interesting to know a bit more about the castle. What kind of wood was it used? Are there types of wood more suited to specific parts of the castle? Are there any special construction technics? What were the rooms used for? The castle is completely empty and I can understand that no artifacts have remained of hundreds of years of use and fires but could they not have made computer sketches so to give the visitor an idea of what it would have been like inside? In terms of visitor experience, learning and views, Kumamoto Castle is still our favourite!

We finally managed to get out of the Main Keep with our feet freezing cold! We also lost Manuel in the sea of visitors and only found him again at the exit of the castle, after we visited the remaining grounds (that didn't have much to see I must add). At ¥1000 each, it was bad value for money.

If you go to Himeji Castle and you want to go in, make sure to go to the Main Keep first think in the morning or shortly before it closes. There was no queue when we finally left the tower, about 20min before closing.

Back to the train again. Today it's one of those days you really feel like you're doing an interrail.

Shinkansen Hikari again and in 54 min we were in Kyoto.

WE'RE IN KYOTO!!!!

We tried to find a sign at ground level saying Kyoto or Kyoto Station to take a picture with and couldn't find one... Disappointing!

Our accomodation was 15min walk north of the station and we settled quickly. It is in a residential area. Narrow streets badly lit, houses, small number of restaurants all closed at 9pm. Quiet nights are always appreciated.

Unfortunately this also meant we had to walk further to find dinner. We were hungry and tired and just wanted a quick bite and off to bed.

We found what it seemed like japanese fast-food. A 24h restaurant with set menus of basic and popular choices, free water and green tea and free rice refill (there is a self-service rice machine tucked in a corner). 

(The pink is supposed to be tuna shavings. I have no idea what it is! I think it might be a good idea not to know!)

It also has this engenious way of saving chair space and keeping client's valuables clean and safe: a basket by your feet. Clever!