Day 3: Saturday, March 22nd
Kyoto
For some reason, I got stuck planning the first few days of Kyoto. Hedy hadn’t researched the area and was happy with wherever we took her. Jenny had done research, but she was rather jet lagged and only nodded along as I laid out my plans. For our first full day in Kyoto, we would start at the Imperial palace park, in the center of the city. We’d go northwest to Ryoanji, then come back a few stops to Kinkakuji. From Kinkakuji, we could easily go to Nijo-jo, the castle, if we had extra time.
“So, this was my idea,” I said. “Or would you rather go somewhere else or….”
“Nope. Sounds good,” Jenny said.
That morning Jenny wore boots. They were brown boots going up to her thighs, and they had holes in the soles. She asked if they would be all right to wear. I said I guessed so. But tennis shoes would be better. I had never been to these places and didn’t know what to expect.
We took the bus to Imperial Palace Park. There’s nothing so pleasant as a stroll through the park in the morning. It was nice weather and the park wasn’t crowded. A few people walked dogs and a few people rode bikes.
“I want to ride a bike,” Jenny said.
We walked to the wall of a minor palace. I had my friends pose so I could take a picture, and Jenny casually rested her hand on the gate. A few minutes later we heard an alarm sound. “Jenny, stop touching the gate!” I said. We walked away from that area very quickly.
After that we admired the flowers. I recognized sakura, cherry blossoms, and ume, plum, but I didn’t know what the bright red flowers were. Perhaps peach or apricot? We were so happy to see the sakura though. I had so badly wanted my friends to see the famous cherry bloom. If I knew how much we’d see of the flower later on, I wouldn’t have been so excited.
As we got toward the main part of the imperial palace, Jenny complained that her feet hurt. The roads along the park were made of loose gravel, which poked though the thin, holey soles of boots. The path along the front of the Imperial Palace was long; Jenny demanded a piggyback ride.
Somehow I ended up carrying her. She was heavy.
We couldn’t go into the imperial palace. We just saw the roof poking past the gate. It was a pretty roof.
After we passed the palace, we ended up in a wooded area. The path was dirt, much softer on Jenny’s feet. At one point, I saw a man (a foreigner) take out a flute and play a lovely tune. It was so nice, walking in the park, enjoying the good weather, and listening to music.
Suddenly Jenny cried out, “I lost my earring.”
The big dangling heart on her right ear was gone. We all looked through the grass, but it was nowhere in sight. After some discussion, we retraced our steps. Fortunately, Hedy was smart enough to think to check our digital cameras, so we didn’t have to search the whole park. By magnifying group shots, we discovered that Jenny had her earring on at the gate (where we set off the alarm), but it was gone by the time we got to the flowers.
We searched the area, but to no avail. We couldn’t find it.
After that, we went to Ryoanji, a temple famous for its rock garden. There are 15 rocks in the garden, but, no matter which angle you sit at, you can only see 14. Actually, the rock garden was smaller than I thought, and so it was a little disappointing. But we had a pleasant walk around the garden.
For lunch we had ramen (again!). It was good ramen, but when Hedy and Jenny said they could eat ramen for dinner tonight too, I put my foot down. I get sick of ramen very easily.
We went to Kinkakuji, or the Temple of the Golden Pavilion. It is perhaps the most photographed temple in Kyoto. The outside is covered with gold foil and it sits on a pond, which gives it a splendid look. A more impressive feat, however, is its ability to look relatively empty. There were hordes of people surrounding us, but when you look at the pictures, you’d swear we were the only ones there.
From Kinkakuji, we took the bus to Nijo-jo, the castle in Kyoto. It was called a castle, but to me it looked more like a palace. All castles I’ve seen in Japan are several stories high and heavily fortified. Nijo-jo appeared to be one story high, maybe two stories at the most. And I didn’t see any holes in the wall for firing guns and arrows. Still, it was beautiful.
Nestled inside the roof were carvings of phoenixes and the edges were gilded gold. We walked along the “nightingale floors,” a device a suspicious warlord had installed to warn him of spies. With so many people, the floors squeaked and whistled and sang. The insides of the palace were filled with beautiful paintings. Jenny and Hedy went ahead, but I walked slowly, savoring the art.
We walked along the garden. At the very end were benches for visitors to sit. Jenny didn’t sit. She ran through the grass in her knee-high brown boots and lay down, stomach-up, hands tucked underneath head, on the bench. Hedy and I followed suit. Lying down, we could see black branches spread along the sky.
Hard to believe then, with open space around us and the blue sky above, but not thirty minutes later we’d be pressed against a mass of humanity, squirming just to move as people pushed us from behind. Because once we got out of Nijo-jo, we had to take the bus back to our hostel.
It was about 5:00 PM and we had somehow landed in the middle of rush hour. I watched a bus heading towards Kyoto station. It was jammed packed when the bus opened its doors. The people were like a wall. But the people kept pushing their way in. One, two, three, four. The wall wriggled as more people kept squeezing in. A full dozen or more had somehow crammed themselves in before the bus’ doors closed. It was fascinating and disturbing to watch.
A few minutes later that was us.
I couldn’t see Jenny and Hedy. I could barely see through the heads in front of me to see what the next stop was. I couldn’t move, but somehow I kept inching my way forward. Whenever people got off, the rest of us moved forward. Every little bit of space was precious. And more people were coming abroad.
Jenny told me later that an old lady had pushed her rudely. This same old lady thanked her excessively when Jenny offered a free seat to her. I got separated from Jenny and Hedy, but I managed to get to the front of the bus, where I could see the stops. About two stops before ours, in the middle of downtown, the bus suddenly emptied. We could breathe again. Literally.
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