We've spent the last 3 nights in Kyoto and it's been a fun and beautiful city to explore. We have both concluded so far that Japan is a pretty cute country! Some of this includes:
- cute music that plays when your train is approaching or really just anywhere you go
- toilets with the noise function button (and volume control!) - you wave your hand over this panel and it sounds like a toilet flushing and masks any noise you're making, hahaha
- little girls that yell 'hello' to us and then giggle like crazy when Mike waves back - he does have a way with the ladies
- monkeys at Arashiyama Monkey park - especially when you observe their social behavior (watching them pick bugs out of each other's skin and then eat them never gets old)
- everyone seems to be smiling and laughing all the time
We have spent the last 2 days exploring Higashiyama and Arashiyama and have seen some beautiful temples. We spent last night walking down Pontocho alley; there are more restaurants in this one place than I have ever seen but so few had English menus so that narrowed the choices down considerably. There is not a lot of English here in general. Some restaurants have picture menus which has helped us a lot. We're still struggling with saying 'hello' and 'thank you' in Japanese (although the phrase book has helped a lot - thanks Hedy!). We've definitely been smiling and bowing a lot and hand gestures have helped!
We are leaving today for Yunomine Onsen, a town known for its heritage onsen (Tsuboyu) as well as its proximity to the Kumano Kodo trail, which is an old pilgrimage walk that we're going to do some of tomorrow. We're staying in a minshoku tonight (family guesthouse complete with futon sleeping) and a ryokan tomorrow night (Japanese inn that is slightly nicer than a minshoku). Our hotel has been great in Kyoto since it's right next to Kyoto Station. I haven't had the best sleeps here - I was prepared for the hard bed but not for the hard pillows (hardest of my life!) so hopefully the futons will agree with me more in these guesthouses. We'll be back in Osaka for a night after Yunomine Onsen.
http://www.tb-kumano.jp/en/onsen/yunomine/
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