11.23.09

We pulled into Kobe around 0715. Katie and I met up for breakfast at 7. A little before 8 the ship was cleared. We disembarked and went to the train station bound for Kyoto. We got on the right train line, but on the local – not the express. We changed trains and things went much quicker.

We go into Kyoto around 0915. When we got there, we left to head to the Nijo Castle. ON the way we ran into a huge temple or shrine, where there was some sort of service going on. The service took a backseat to the fattest pigeons I have ever seen. A man was selling feed so Katie and I bought some. Little did we know that as soon as we bought the stuff these huge pigeons came flying at our face. At one point I had 4 on my arm and another just chilling on my purse. It was rather terrifying and we didn’t realize that we were probably catching some weird bird diseases. But Japan had thought about it and there was hand sanitizer stations. These pigeons were not normal. They would fly right at your face! And there were a ton of them! They were everywhere and would just come at you. After escaping from them, we went and observed the service. It was really beautiful and then everyone started chanting. Katie and I felt a little envasive so we went on our way to the castle.

We still epically failed at Japanese food and stopped at McDonald’s for a snack. We eventually made it to the castle and it was beautiful. But on the way there we found some wifi in the middle of the street. As long as we stood still and held our jaw just right we were able to use skype on Katie’s iPhone. I called Mom and Dad and Katie called Steve. Back to the castle. The structure was absolutely gorgeous. It was a series of wooden houses. It boasts to be the largest wooden structure in the world. It had these floors called Nightengale floors, which is were the floors are designed to squeak so no one could sneak in at night. Pretty clever if you as me.

As we were walking through the garden we got caught up in a school group. This is where I made an interesting observation. All the men in Japan carry a man purse (“It’s called a satchel. Indian Jones carries one”). They also have these adorable cell phone charms. I could see tweens carrying them in the states, but here everyone has them even businessmen. I find it pretty hilarious.

We walked through the gardens, which had some beautiful trees. They were changing colors because the fall was just getting there. The leaves were deep red and bright yellow. There was also a huge coy pond filled with some of the largest fish I have ever seen. We exited the gardens into a little section of shop tents and food. Katie and I finally got some Japanese food. We had a bowl of noodles and rice balls in a sweet soy sauce. The rice balls had the texture of marshmallows so I didn’t much care for those, but the noodles were good. Trying to eat a bowl of noodles with chopsticks is an experience. After looking around at the locals, turns out it is perfectly fine to slurp the noodles and basically drink out of the bowl. After I figured that out, things went much more smoothly.

We then continued our walking tour of Kyoto. We walked along a canal and found our way into this hip little ally. It was pretty cool to see. Our main end goal was the Philosopher’s Walk. We stopped in this store that had floor to ceiling of stuff. The owner spoke really good English so we chatted with him and he told us how to get there. He warned us that it was a really long walk. We still went and wound up walking through Kyoto University’s campus. It was really cool because there was some sort of festival going on. We saw a group of people that looked like a dance class. We wanted to chat, but we never got the chance.

We eventually made it to the walk and it was beautiful. It was sprinkled with shrines, shops, restaurants and temples. It was along a canal and since it was fall, the trees were all changing colors. It was gorgeous, but my feet were killing me.

When the trail ended, we made our way to the train station to head back to Kobe. We got in about an hour later. As we were walking back to the ship we ran into Minh, Rachel, and Andy who were going bowling. We decided to turn back around and go out with them.

We grabbed food at McDonald’s, which was on the ground floor of a 10 story bowling alley. Katie got the shaka shaka chicken. It is basically a fried chicken patty in a bag and you pour the spices in a shake. So kind of like shake and bake Japanese McDonald’s style. We got our shoes out a shoe type vending machine where we pushed a button with our size and out popped our shoes.

We got our lane assignment and we ended up being on the same floor as some sort of sports team. They had some of the most bizarre bowling behavior. They would run and throw the ball half way down the land and then proceed to run half way down the land after the ball. Then they would turn around and scream. It was really entertaining to watch. We ended up making a bet for beer in Hawaii. Andy and Minh barely won the first game. I had a score of 115. We went double or nothing on the second game and still lost. The bowling alley gave us some vouchers for a free play on a crane game and 20 tokens for the games. None of us won anything, but it kept us entertained for a while. We also played a game of Mario Kart. When you chose a character they take a picture of you and put it in the characters face. It was pretty awesome. I ended up getting 3^rd place, but it was a close race.

Afterward, Katie, Rachel and I walked back to the ship while Andy and Minh headed to a party. When we got to the gangway there was a girl there who had cut her foot and there was blood everywhere. It was pretty gross. I crashed as soon as I was in my room. I was exhausted from all the walking that day.