We slept in a little bit this morning and decided to eat snacks that we had bought for breakfast with some green tea. Then we packed everything up and were off to do our final bit of sightseeing. We left our luggage at the hotel and went across the road to Nijo Castle.
There are actually two castles on the grounds. The main one unfortunately didn't allow photography inside. We took our shoes off and walked in and experienced the nightengale floor. It was built so that it squeaks when someone walks on it, thus alerting people to any intruders. The squeak was really pretty actually and not irritating in the least. It really did sound like birds. Inside there was room after room after room - all with tatami mats. Most of them had golden sliding doors painted with birds or pine trees or whatever. They were simply gorgeous, and I really, really wish photos had been allowed. I would die to have some of them in my house.
After walking through the main castle area we went outside and walked through the garden area. There were lots of pine trees on the grounds. Then we walked into another area that had another castle, but we couldn't go in that one either. From there we walked out over the bridge across the moat and wandered back to the entrance. I was surprised how big the castle grounds were - it took us twenty minutes walking along the moat to get back to the entrance area. (You can see lots of castle photos here)
From the castle we went back to Kiyomizudera temple - not to see the temple itself, but to find Sannenzaka and Ninenzaka which are two streets lined with old Japanese houses which have souvenir shops and stuff. We finally found them down a little sidestreet - no wonder we missed them the first time when it was dark.
At the end of the slopes (zaka means slope or hill in Japanese) we found a little shop that sells laquerware. It was just beautiful and was surprisingly inexpensive. We ended up getting miso bowls and some chopstick with stands as souvenirs. On the way out I saw this absolutely beautiful plate though... and we went back to the cashier and bought two of them two. The plates are just beautiful, and while we will use the soup bowls and chopsticks regularly, I'm going to save those for special occasions. (You can see more pictures of this area here)
After that it was time to go back to the hotel and get our luggage and make our way to the train station to get the shinkansen (bullet train back). Our timing was good because the shuttle to the station came shortly after we picked up our luggage. We had just enough time to buy souvenirs for people back in Tokyo (namely my students) before catching the train. There were no major events on the way home - in fact, both of us fell asleep.
Then as soon as we got home we unpacked all the stuff and pretty much went right to bed. It was a great weekend but tiring! I'm glad that I have finally made it to Kyoto - I've been in Japan long enough! I got to see everything I wanted to as well. There was one thing I would like to see if I ever go back, but it wasn't on my list for this trip. Oh, and if we ever do go back, we are going to go and get some more laquerware from that shop. We are kicking ourselves for not getting 4 of each!
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