October 20. 2004 22:11

Leaving Tokyo, Rainy walk in Kyoto

Uhh... There's quite a big typhoon going on out there. (See? I learned to write it right ^_^) I was soaked when I got home, but it did give me this nice free night to write the days I haven't yet in this diary. And watch even more Inu-Yasha, of course ^_^

Hmm, there's the last day of the Tokyo trip left, right? Okay, let's do that first. There wasn't much time in the morning before we had to give out the room key, so we didn't plan anything for the morning. But that Tifa poster still haunted me so the last night I decided to go and get it before we left. After breakfast (Western style) I left to Akihabara again and Mum and Dad packed and went straight to Tokyo Station. We planned to meet there after an hour.

The rain caused by the typhoon started already then, so I walked to Akihabara in rain. Finding the Gamers again was easy and I got my poster, which turned out to be a set of two instead of just one. I kinda suspected that by the look of the text on the two posters on the wall. Nice, now I can deal out the second one to Minna or something, 'cause it's Sephiroth and his gang and I don't like it as much as the Tifa one but Minna just loves Sephiroth ^_^ I walked through the floors we didn't go through the day before but managed to come out without buying anything else. But then I had to find the Akihabara train station to get to Tokyo Station, and that turned out to be a challenge. In fact, it was right next to Gamers, but I thought it had to be more west so I walked around a couple of blocks before a guy told me the right way.

I was 15 minutes late when I got to Tokyo Station, but actually, so were my parents. The station is a lot more complex than I thought, especially when you come from the inside. I managed to get to the "south-west end of the main hall" as we agreed to be our meeting point, even though I didn't really mean the point those words turned out to be as I didn't know the full scale of the place when we parted. My parents were less lucky and called 15 minutes later from the other side of the station, having walked around for an hour. They had misunderstood their map until the moment they called.

Then we got the Shinkansen tickets, about 13 000 each. Dad paid for mine as well, as he's been doing for almost everything... They're firmly of the opinion to give me an opportunity to enjoy myself as much as I want, even though I'm perfecly capable of paying my own train trip and books... I don't mind a little extra money, but I have been saving for this for a year and all, it's not like I'm gonna run out of money. Unless I really want to spend it like I was a millionaire. Anyway, the Shinkansen was very fast and pleasant. It only took a couple of hours as my bus ride took like seven. One time by Shinkansen is enough for me, though, when I go back to Tokyo I'm gonna get the night bus again. I'll rather spend the extra 10 000 on clothes ^_^ Now I have the experience, so I'm happy. (There were vending machines even on the Shinkansen!)

There was a wonderful feeling of returning home when we got to Kyoto. A small city like this really suits me better. I took Mum and Dad to their hotel and after they settled down we went to eat and walk down the shopping streets. I read from the ad they gave me at Gamers that there was a store in Kyoto, too, and I managed to find it along Teramachi as we walked there. I stopped by at the 100 yen store to search for a candy bowl, didn't find any but got cooking chopsticks and my parents fell for some wooden trays. Then we ventured up a nice little staircase and found a beautiful little shop with cheap furnishing stuff and I was so disappointed that I already bought all that I needed. There would've been a lot prettier paper trays and boxes than what I have now. Sigh.

We had a cup of coffee (or soda for me) at a nice but expensive little cafe and then it started to be so late that the stores were closing. We walked back to the hotel, checking out the last places. I got a can of Inu-Yasha fortune cookies on the way but then they all closed. The cookie box is really nice, and I tried one of them that night. I translated the fortune with my new dictionary and it said "When you're in a bad mood or health..., let's think about happy things." with a pic of angry Kagome below it.

I can't believe how much stuff my parents brought me. It filled one of their hand baggage cases. Most of it is candy they got from the airport, though, so I won't be taking it back. There was much more candy than I asked for and a pile of post for me that they'll take back when they leave. It was nice of them to bring all that stuff, even though some of it was unnecessary... Unh, now I'm starting to write incoherent text again, so I better get to the next day. Today, that is.

We had a very interesting but very wet sightseeing walk guided by this English-speaking Japanese guy nicked Johnny Hillwalker. Dad said he's famous for this tour around the town. He did tell some really interesting facts about Buddhism and Shinto and all, so interesting I had to start taking notes. We went to some great looking temples (including Higashi honganji, I think it was the biggest wooden building in Japan and still in use) and shrines, Shosei-en garden which was very beautiful even though it was raining, to a room behind a shrine where the priest's wife put kimono on us (I learned how to properly put a summer kimono on! ^_^) and to some handicraft stores where we could see how prayer beads, fans, candy and tatami were made. It was a far better tour than I would've been able to give, I'm really glad my parents thought of this.

After the walk was over the storm had just gotten heavier. We were soaked and it seemed like a good idea to go inside soon, so we moved the Kiyomizu trip to tomorrow and went back towards the hotel. We ate at the shopping streets and walked around for a while again, stopped for a coffee and so. Some of the stores closed early because of the typhoon, so the streets were pretty empty even though it wasn't even six o'clock. We didn't feel like staying out for long, either, mainly because I still had to get back home before the storm got too strong. Dad wanted to go to a bank to cash some traveller's cheques but it was already closed so we'll go tomorrow. I'll be meeting them at nine and we'll go to the bank, then to Kobosan market at Toji temple and from there we'll continue to Kiyomizu, Maruyama park and Gion, and maybe to the Fureaikan if we have time.

Well well, am I through already? That ended suddenly. I guess I should send some e-mails... I really feel like just minding my own business here in my cozy room, but there's some inportant stuff I need to take care of, and then Ravie will be mad if I don't talk to him a bit... Well, I guess I should go for it, then, so I'll get it done.

Endnote: Heidi just sent a Sky Mail and told me school was cancelled today after 13. And the wind sure is blowing outside right now... But Heidi also said it should be over by the morning so our visit to the flea market shouldn't be in danger.