There was much drama (okay, caused by the resident Libra in the house!) before taking this trip. We hadn't booked a thing, but planned to take a random trip into one of the busiest cities during New Year, at one of the busiest times of the year? Who were we kidding? So much of that frustration was taken out on Chris, who as always very patiently listened to my whinging and blaming of him, and sat through my VERY bad mood. After much pouting on my part, I was persuaded to check the train timetables the next day at the station, and the day after we could catch some local trains to Kyoto, okay?

So one chilly December morning, we woke up at 5am, to take a local train into Kyoto. It was super early, but the local train we had to take to Nagoya (where we had to change to a rapid) was so packed that we had to stand. Lucky we found seats on the other 2 trains (and damn was there a crazy rush when everyone changed at Maibara station!).

Our days there were spent catching buses to various temples and shrines around Kyoto, and a day out in Nara to see the deer and the big big Buddha. We went to so many temples that by the end they all sort of meshed together, did I see that statue at this temple or this temple? Was it Toji or Todaiji? Ginkakuji or Kinkakuji?

Anyway, the highlights:

* Bus passes costing 500 yen for unlimited trips in a day;
* Contemplating peacefully while staring at a rock garden;
* Getting "Best Luck" at the fortune telling shaking thing at Todaiji temple in Nara, even if it isn't going to come true;
* Taking many pictures;
* The view from Ginkakuji;
* Going to Kinkakuji, and to be met with the sign "You cannot see the pavilion, it is covered with a white sheet" (because it was under renovation), and then going in anyway to see that it really WAS covered with a white sheet, and they erected a huge picture of what the pavilion was supposed to look like;
* The zillions of statues
* Walking around in bare feet (freezing my toes off) around temples where people once lived and pretending I was a ninja (but not actually leaping off rooves of any kind);
* Eating at Asian Kitchen (my favourite restaurant);
* Finding Starbucks wherever we were;
* Being able to find places to stay! Yay!