Day 3: Hitting the Sights
We woke up after staying out later than we expected for the first night, but still showered and ready to leave around 10:15am - for this group that equates to really early. We had a checklist of places to hit, all trying to do them before they close at 5pm (with 4pm last entry). We thought it would be rushed, but in the end was fine that we reached a great craft beer bar at 4pm. Not that the sights weren't good, but it was a pounding 95 degrees in Kyoto. I sweat a lot normally, but my walking around drenched wasn;t even all that notable. Everyone, including many very in shape Japanese people, were as well.
Anyway, for the sights. The first place was the Nijo Castle. This was a really nice plot of land with two castle structures in the heart of Kyoto city. The entrance is grand, a beautiful archway in a long fortified wall. Having gone to Korea last year, I can definitely say there are simialrities abound, but at least the two castles here are jsut a bit more delicate and sturdy. The Nijo Castle has two castles, one of which is being restored. The other allowed for a long walking tour of it - sadly no photos allowed inside the castle.
It had a series of interconnected rooms, all with ratan mats, beautifully carved and painted wall panels and a general sense of class and import. The rest of the grounds had beautifully manicured gardens and pools - I will always be astounded at teh pure attention to detail of the landscaping and design in Japan. the Nijo Castle was a nice entry point into Kyoto sightseeing. Not the best sight but given how well adorned it is, even that is saying something.
From there we were all a bit hungry, so we ventured to a nearby restaurant-heavy area and went to a place that I believe translates to Dive Ramen. It was a small shop, seven seats at a counter around an open kitchen where two people were cooking up ramen. It was essential stuff - similar to me having Bibimbap in Jeonju last year. The only weirdness, in a very novel way, was ordering through a vending machine type thing that spit out little slips that you handed to the cook. The ramen was stunningly simple and elegant - just perfectly cooked chicken broth, so delicious, so slight., The noodles were soft, the pieces of pork lightly cooked and juicy. It was all excellent. The ramen, with a side of Kirin beer, all for $9.
After this we were runnign ahead of schedule. The most notable sight in Kyoto is the Kinkaju-Ji - the Golden Temple. The plan was to see it tomorrow after we return from Nara, but we decided to just finish it off. It is situated a bit elevated in the Northwest end of Kyoto proper. The grounds are serene, but really it starts adn ends with that Golden Temple - a three story cube with pagod adornments, plated in gold, rising out of the lake. Brilliant from every angle. You see it a bit in the distance when you enter the grounds, but the walking path takes you closer inch by inch to the point you are within 20 feet of it. It is incredible from afar and even better in a way up close when you see basically how perfect that gold finish is - no chips in the paint or dirt or anything.
From the Kinkaju-Ji, went ventured back to central Kyoto, to the giant park that sits in its center, with the Imperial Palace in the middle. This was the palace that the Japanese emporers lived at for hundreds of years until the Meiji Restoration moved the seat of power back to Tokyo. What I really love about Kyoto so far is each of these sights has a really clear walking path through the grounds to see all the sights in each place. Easily laid out, easy to follow and no doubts then on if you saw the right stuff.
At the Imperial Palace, it was a walk around the outside to three of the key, beautifully adorned "Gates", and then inside to the large rooms, be it where the Emperor entertained guests, to their private meeting spaces, to the livign areas, and even quick detours to really lovely garden areas. It was still burning hot through all of this, but we all basically reached that point where we had sweat what we sweat and just were content being overly hot. Anyway, back to the grounds - the Imperial Palace is just so big. Again, there are 1-to-1 similarities say in Seoul from last year, but first this isn't the coutnry's main city, but there is a just a scale and size here that is a bit larger than its counterparts in Korea.
From there, with our main sights out of the way for the day, we headed south with the destination being Umine Stand Craft Bar - a jumbled way of saying a craft beer bar where you have to stand up at the counter. Tehse are very common in Japan and the place was excellent. Good beer, good folks, good scene - twenty-one taps all from craft breweries aroudn Japan (guest featuring was 10 of them from a particular brewery in Osaka) and about five large fridges of various cans. The place is craft beer heaven.
On the way the walk was a slice of heaven as well. It was largely down one road but that road had so many just beautiful little shops, restaurants, homes with such exacting wood, bamboo and minimalist design. I truly have fallen in love with that aspect of Kyoto. In many of these places, from Floor 2 on up they are concrete blocks, but the ground floor is just a different world. I'm pretty sure some of the places we crossed were muilti-hundred dollar kaiseki restaurants, but others were just regular shops, iuncluding an incredible honey shop that I forced us to stop at to buy my first souvenirs of the trip.
After the stop at the Stand Bar, we walked around the Gion district, a giant shopping, tea & restaurant area - much like the old Hanok Village of Jeonju from last year. I don't like that I keep comparing Kyoto to Jeonju, but in many ways tehre are similarities, with the biggest exception that Kyoto is a massive city that houses all of this.
For dinner, we went to a place named Ibushigin Kayazawa, which is a sake bar serving sake & smoked foods. Odd combination, I guess but it worked. The sake were all quite good, and the way they serve it a bit interesting, as they overpour a shot glass into a little bowl, giving you basically a shot and a sipping bowl worth of sake for $6-10 a pop. We each had about four varieties, and split a ton of small plates, all well smoked and flavored. None are mains with the exception of a couple dishes of pork ribs and chicken - which we did get the chicken which was excellent. The best dish might have been a cold smoke octopus in a fermented wasabi broth, which was truly brilliant. That or the smoked in cloche starter of sea urchin everyone gets (you ahve to pay for it though). This was I guess not "lowkey" but a very different type of meal from last night but equally as unique and nice.
After dinner, we went down the Potchongo Alley (we learned the name for the main bar and club drag since yesterday) pretty far South to L'Escamoteur bar, which is a cocktail bar run by expats but truly inventive. They too specialize in smoked cocktails, but have a bunch of others as well - my favorites being a honey-infused gin cocktail, and a smokey old fashioned which was more smokey than any I've had. The nigth ended with a brief appearance at the karaoke bar (at least for Kyoto, we're passing on the club scene - saving it for Tokyo, I guess.
