Japan 2007: Kyoto

I woke up feeling good, but things went downhill quickly. We went to exchange our second set of Kansai Area Passes, but I grabbed the wrong set. I was already annoyed that someone cut in line ahead of us. With the right passes, we returned and got the JR Pass. The currency exchange then wouldn’t open until 10, so we putzed around until then. I turned in three hundred dollars, then we went to the train. We had a twenty minute wait for the next local on the Sagano line, so we waited around some more.

We finally made it to the Arashiyama station to see the romantic train just leaving. The weather was blustery, raining cold and windy, but I was in the mood for ice cream. Herr turned down the idea, so with the hour we had before the next train, we tried to see the bamboo forest. My ears hurt so much from the wind, Herr was not too happy with me.

The temple had an entrance fee with no sign of the bamboo forest, so we turned back to the station to catch the romantic train. The name is misleading because though it had great scenery, it was packed and bustling. Everyone looked to be having fun though, so it’s all good.

At Hozuko, the other end of the route, we walked a bit to Kameoka to take the JR back to Arashiyama. We boarded the wrong train though that zipped right past our stop causing insane ear pressures as we flew through the tunnels all the way back to Nijo station. Here we just missed the local back to Arashiyama, and I had a big breakdown. It was nearly an hour until the next train came; Herr was trying to cheer me up but I just couldn’t stop thinking all I wanted was to see the bamboo forest. I was cold, sore, and depressed, and I couldn’t decide if it was worth going all the way back into the wind and rain.

We did. Herr had nearly had enough of me back at the temple, but then I saw a sign with trees on it that made me feel better. The path led us to the river, when we climbed large stone steps up to an observatory. With every step I felt better, and then we finally found ourselves standing right next to it — the bamboo forest. We could only walk on a stone road, the forest itself was fenced off, but it was really lovely. I was able to touch live bamboo. We can do just about anything with it — build a house, make clothes, eat it… I like bamboo.

On our way back we stopped for ice cream. It was soft serve with four different flavors; from bottom to top we started with vanilla, then green tea, brown tea, and sakura. I had never had three different tea ice creams let alone four different flavors on one cone before. We rode back to Kyoto station, bought a small bento meal and some rice balls, then returned to the hotel. We watched Bruce Almighty while we ate, then later went to bed.