Before I talk abotu how today started, I need to talk abotu how last night ended. We got back to our inn and needed to do laudry, apparently along with everyone else staying here. It took almost an hour to even get a washer. Then we finally got our things into the dryer and I stayed up for 2 hours waiting for everything to dry. It seemed like it never would! I ended up giving up and hanging everything all around our hotel room. At 5am Ryan got up and everything was still wet so we started the day back downstairs in the laundry room. It took another 90 minutes for everything to FINALLY dry!

So we got a later-than-usual start and headed to Toji Temple, which was only about a 15 minute walk from our hotel. The grounds were really pretty, especially with all the cherry blossoms. There was an indoor exhibit featuring beautiful tapestries and other cloth items made with indigo. They explain how the artist made them (masked with wax then dunk in Indigo) – the coolest part was that he grew all of his own Indigo!

Next we walked to Kyoto Tower. On the way we discovered Kyoto Aeon Mall and the entire grocery/food/shopping area of Kyoto Station. After passing about 8 bakeries we gave in and bought some pastries. Kyoto Tower was pretty cool. The observation Deck had binoculars and touch screens to help you look around the city. We could almost see Osaka Castle from there!

We knew we wanted to find Tokyu Hands but we could see a giant temple right behind Kyoto Tower so we went there next. It was called Higashi Honganji Temple. They had some interesting bells and fountains where water comes out of a dragon’s mouth.

We continued our trek to Tokyu Hands. It was 4 floors and the whole top floor was stationery and craft supplies so we were in heaven. We bought a brush pen, some washi tape and stamps and then continued on.

We got to Nishiki Market with the plan of eating our lunch from the food stalls there. We were NOT disappointed! We had a beef bun made with Kyoto-branded beef. Then we found a yakisoba sandwich – pan-friend soba noodles in a white bread sandwich. It was so amazing! Then we had a potato and butter fried ball – it was alright. But the honey shop redeemed things. They sold these syrups that you could add to drinks or desserts. The Japanese yuzu and honey one was amazing. We bought some to bring home and we ordered some to have on vanilla ice cream while we were there.

Next up after a little souvenir shopping was Nijo Castle. We got there about 75 minutes before it was closing so we only made it into the main palace. I’m so glad we made it there, though. They had all of the rooms arranged as they would have been with reproductions of the massive gold leaf paintings on the walls. They had signs explaining the purpose of each room and how the architecture and design supported that. For example, the first rooms were the reception rooms for visitors needing to meet the Shogan so it was all very intimidating while what was likely his sitting room and bedroom were decorated with very calming and subdued paintings. We got to see a little more of the beautiful gardens on our way out.

We went back to our room to rest and drop off our backpacks before heading to Kyoto Aeon Mall for ramen (finally!) and a brief walk through Toys R Us and a bookstore. I found really cool versions of Harry Potter in Japanese! They had Philosopher’s Stone in house-specific versions.