Kyoto Day 2ish...

Today felt like one of those travel TV shows where the host miraculously covers an entire city in one day. I’m living proof that it’s possible. Kyoto is great. It still has that old school Japan feel, but it’s not raggedy and doesn’t feel like a dusty old museum of a city. I started the day with my 9 am appointment for a maiko makeover. A maiko is a geisha in training. Their kimonos and hairpieces are usually more floral and playful, their hairstyle is very different, and the same goes for their make up. They also wear really high shoes. It took them about 30 minutes from start to finish. Once dressed, a photographer and I hit the streets for a photo shoot. After the shoot, I walked around for half an hour in the outfit and makeup. Kyoto is a big school trip destination so at 10 am the streets were full of elementary and middle school kids form all over the country. It was so funny to hear little kids scream “Oh, maiko-san from a distance.” It was even funnier to hear, “EEEH!” when they got up close enough to realize that it was some Black lady dressed up.

From there I went to Kiyomizu Temple and took a couple of pictures. I wanted to find the Nintendo headquarters building but I could find any directions on the internet. However, I did see it from the train on my way to Inari Fushimi. For those of you who have seen memoirs of a geisha, you may remember the scene where the main character is running through row of Tori (orange/red shito gates). Well, I visited the shrine where that scene was shot. It’s called wanted to find the Nintendo headquarters building but I could find any directions on the internet. However, I did see it from the train on my way to Inari Fushimi. My neighbor let me borrow (soon to be “have”) his tripod so I was able to take some pictures with me in them. Since I was on a schedule I didn’t get to walk the entire length of the trail, but I’ll go back to Kyoto next year to do all that. Next, I was off the other end of the city to see Kinkakuji, another really famous temple that is covered in gold. All day long it looked like there was a storm on the way so I cut back a cross town to have dinner at Yojiya Café. This time I was in luck. I had a Margherita pizza and an iced café au lait. The café au lait is the whole reason I had been trying to get there in the first place. Look at how they serve it…COOL! For dessert, I tried my hardest to get to a soufflé place called Rokuseisatei. They stopped taking orders at 6 and I got there at 6:14!!! They open at 11:30 am and my train to Tokyo leaves at 11:26 so I guess I’ll just have to catch it next year too. Oh well. So, I just walked around until I was exhausted then headed back to the hotel.