Kyoto II

Much distance was covered (my blisters have finally healed), many sights were seen, and a lot of food was consumed - hopefully Si and Sharon would agree that it was a pretty good 5 (proper) days. Thanks to them for coming over and giving me reason and occasion to see more stuff. We managed to get out to a different place each day, which had less to do with my knowledge of the Kansai area than with my list of recommendations and the number of places worth visiting. Nara and Himeji were new for me, Kobe and Kyoto were safe bets that I wanted to go back to, worked out just fine. One day was rained off, but that was Saturday so I had planned to stay in Osaka anyway to avoid the crowds at the popular tourist spots. Hence no pictures for that day.

These pictures are in the wrong order - Nara was the first place we visited, Kyoto the last, but it's neither important nor worth the effort to change them.

26/03/07
By the time we went to Kyoto the sakura were just starting to appear properly, after a scattering in Nara and Himeji. I hadn't expected to see any yet so it was a bonus. This isn't much compared to April, but it makes for a better picture than bare branches.






























Took the shinkansen back to Osaka, a very quick 15 mins.

Kobe II

25/03/07
Kobe for the second time.



Back to Nankin-jikan, best place for a cheap lunch. Therefore very busy, but worth the queues.



View from the top of Kobe tower, doesn't look as high as it actually was. This was the day that my apartment had swayed a bit during breakfast because of the earthquake on the other side of Japan - would have been more interesting to be up here at the time.





One ridiculous dog.




Back in Osaka


Going by the picture the helpful waitress helpfully drew (my Japanese doesn't yet cover ichthyology) these are the fins of some kind of stingray. Actually she said "ray" but stingray sounds better. Good when barbecued, anyway.


The nabe was as tasty as the service was dainty.