Japan Day 6 - Imperial Palace, Nijo Castle, and Golden Pavilion

Saturday was one of two sightseeing days we had in Kyoto proper, but since Cackett had just arrived in Japan we didn't want to do anything too strenuous, so we opted for a few good tours of what I think are some must-see places. The first place we headed to was the imperial palace. Unlike the palace in Tokyo, which is the current residence of the emperor, you don't need reservations months in advance for the Kyoto palace tour, and while you can't go inside, I remembered it being a great tour from the last time I was in Japan.

The palace sits at the center of Kyoto Imperial Garden, which used to form the outer portions of the imperial compound and consisted of residences of court nobles. When the capital moved to Tokyo, the court noble houses were demolished, and now the outer portions are open to the public as a beautiful park. Within the larger walled park is the smaller (though by no means small) walled palace itself. It's a great opportunity to see traditional architecture, like the cypress roofing put on temples and palaces way back when, and even get a peek at the inside. The gardens are, of course, perfectly manicured as well, and I can see how they would be very relaxing to live in.

After our palace tour we spent some time wandering around the larger park, which had unfortunately sustained quite a bit of damage from the hurricane that swept through earlier in the week, so some areas were closed off. There were plenty of trees that had either fallen or lost branches, and a fair amount of debris off the main walkway. We did still make the most of it though, checking out playgrounds and historical sites, and getting some nature in.

We also stumbled upon a really neat old teahouse that used to be part of one of the noble's estates. It was a beautiful example of the Japanese aesthetic, and we spent a few minutes looking out over its garden and pond, relaxing, before heading out for some lunch at Sukiya again. This time we tried the ginger pork bowls, and they were equally tasty and cheap.

   

After lunch we walked over to Nijo castle, former residence of the Tokugawa shoguns. They wanted to be close to the emperor, I suppose for greater political control. It was a much different atmosphere than the imperial palace, definitely more governmental than royal and, excitingly, we could actually go inside one of the palaces in the complex. Once again the hurricane damage kept us from exploring the second palace and the gardens, but the one palace we did go in was so cool we didn't mind too much. Pictures were, of course, not allowed inside the palace (nor were shoes), but the walls were covered with beautiful paintings and carvings, and lots of gold leaf. They also had set up a few scenes of court life within some of the rooms, based on old paintings of the shogun and his court.

    

After all the walking at the imperial palace and gardens and Nijo castle, we were ready for a bit of a break, so we checked out the little cafe at the castle for a mid-afternoon pick me up of green tea ice cream. Cackett even went for the gold-leaf super cone version, which was equal parts ridiculous and hilarious. Charlie and I shared a regular cone of the "bold" green tea ice cream, which was a little bitter for my taste, but still quite delicious.

Refreshed by our hiatus we decided to grab a bus up to one of the absolute must-see sights for a first time Kyoto visitor, Kinkakuji - the golden pavilion. This temple's top two floors are completely covered in gold leaf (apparently on the inside as well, but we'll have to trust the pictures on that since you can't actually go inside), and overlooks a large pond. It is a Zen Buddhist temple, and is, of course, situated within more of a temple complex surrounded by garden. Luckily, the rain held off for the most part and we were able to get pictures with a nice reflection of the pavilion in the pond.

   

After the pavilion, we headed back to Kyoto station, and along the way stopped at a bath house since I thought Cackett might like to have the onsen experience. I was remembering the amazing onsen that I'd been to in Arashiyama on my last visit, and of course the onsen at our hotel a few days prior. Unfortunately, the bath house was nothing like any onsen I'd been to before, but was instead a bit shabby. Charlie described it as "the dive bar of onsen" and Cackett got slightly electrocuted. (Note: this is actually a thing in Japan, a feature, not a short circuit - https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/05/19/reference/shocking-baths-japan/#.W9jifnpKitg)

We stuck it out, having a decent soak of our sore legs (or at least I did, since the baths are gender segregated I can only assume the guys did as well), but it wasn't really the experience I was looking for. In any case, we had dinner at the station and headed back home where we all passed out pretty early after such a full day.