A lengthy stay in Kyoto... my first evening here was spent wandering around just to check out some different parts of the city as I wrote about earlier. Then yesterday was a rather uneventful day as I only hit two "tourist-y" places: first, the Imperial Palace (taking their 10am English tour) and then next Nijo-jo castle, where early afternoon rains kind of put a damper on that (and really, most anything else I'd want to do outside. So I made my way to Kyoto Station to check out some of the things they had there (and really, it paled in comparisson to Nagoya's Sakae Station), and then decided to head back to my hotel to rest for a bit before going out for the evening for dinner and such (after a failed attempt at trying to connect to a wireless hotspot in the McDonald's just down the street from my hotel). So since that didn't work... sorry, still no pictures. =( Unfortunately I never made it out last night. My body apparently still hasn't adjusted and I fell asleep somewhere around 8pm yesterday evening and could not for the life of me do anything. Which has made today a long day given that I was up at like 5am and it's about 2am now (doing laundry before I depart Kyoto tomorrow).

Today was an excellent day, however! I finally broke down and bought an umbrella and headed out for the day around 9:30am this morning. So far on my trip I really hadn't met anyone, but about a week before I left I had a conversation with my Uncle who backpacked through Europe somewhat similar to what I'm doing in Japan now. And he told me all sorts of great stories of the hospitality of people he met and some of the incredible experiences he had with people and meeting other travelers. Well today I met some fellow travelers and we ended up spending the day together!

So at the bus stop this morning I noticed a couple who I'd seen earlier in the hotel, and while we were on the bus the guy asked me where I was going and it turns out we were going to the same place. Their names were Justin and Michele, and they're both from western Australia. Over the course of the day we got to know each other pretty well and we really hit it off. =) So we got off the bus and saw this temple together which was cool (still raining all this morning and most of this afternoon), and then we walked "The Path of Philosophy" which was a small canal that ran south from the area of the temple and had small restuarants and shops lining both sides. From there we made our way to the Museum of Modern Art (which, if I'm going to go to a museum those are the kind that I prefer), and then from there we found an excellent Indian restaurant to eat at (yes, Howie, you'll be glad to know that I've been taking pictures of not only every meal I've eaten, but also every odd drink that I've bought from the vending machines here). After lunch we made our way to the covered shops, had a drink at a small bar & enjoyed a crepe (they hadn't had a crepe since they'd come to Japan like 3 weeks ago and already I've had... hmm... I seem to've lost count, doh!).

After a short retreat back to the hotel to freshen up, we rode the subway a stop to the place where they ate dinner last night (I have the business card but forget the name at the moment). They served us an "Omakase", or chef's tasting, similar to what I've enjoyed at places like Morimoto's (Philly) and Makoto (DC). The food was fantastic, there weren't a whole lot of other people there, and the service was great! We also met another guy here who was in Japan for both business and pleasure from London and he joined us for part of our meal. After dinner we walked over to Gion, the area in Kyoto where Geisha's can sometimes be spotted (but it's not as easy as just looking for "The Geisha House", although I had my camera ready in case I saw it), but we were lucky to see one Geisha departing from a meeting with a client, so that was cool.

Then we wandered around the area looking for a bar that might be accepting of foreigners and finally found one called "5". The place was small and quaint, music wasn't too loud and there was just a group of 10-12 people in the back side and a straggler or two at the bar. The drinks were reasonably priced (700 yen) and the bartenders were way cool and really only spoke a couple words of English. I somehow managed to hold a conversation with one of the bartenders for quite some time and learned a little bit about him and the bar. The bar had been open for about 3 years, and he lives in Kyoto but grew up in Osaka. He called the bar "5" because it was his jersey number when he played for the Kyoto baseball team. Now we all know how big baseball is in Japan - he played center field and was last on the team 5 years ago. When I asked if he was famous, in typical Japanese fashion, he downplayed himself. I just thought it was cool I was able to hold a conversation with this guy! Definitely a lot more fun when you can communicate. Oh, and I also taught him how to make a Toasted Almond. Been awhile since I've had one of those...

Ok, time to get laundy done and get to bed! Traveling to Nara tomorrow and probably won't have internet access until I make it to Osaka the day after...

Big thanks to everyone who's been reading and supporting me on my trip! I love reading your comments and feeling everyone's emotional support behind me! You guys are the best!! =)