Japan: Day 6 (Kyoto - Nijo Castle, Tempura, Imperial Palace & Nishiki Market)

Initially, I was planning on combining days of the trip for a blog post but filtering through all of the photos/videos (1900+ for us and 1600+ for Benshen's) is too hard. We saw a lot of neat things on the trip! My hope is to post regularly so I can wrap the trip up...and show the grand finale - a video of our trip. Day 6 was our first full-day in Kyoto and looking back, it was a busy day!

We started the day off by going to the Kyoto Museum...and then left because it didn't open until 10AM (later realizing stuff opens later in Japan). We then went to the Nijo Castle. The castle was originally built in 1603 as the official Kyoto residence of the first Tokugawa Shogun, Ieyasu.

The neatest part was Ninomaru Palace within the Nijo Castle. Unfortunately, you were not allowed to take pictures/videos. There were a lot of large rooms with wall art, places for the Shogun and his friends. Cool part: the palace has nightingale floors in the corridor - when someone walks on the floor, the floor squeaks. This was done intentionally to prevent people from sneaking around and to prevent intruders from getting too far.

Ninomaru Garden at the Nijo Castle.

The garden is so green!

We carried umbrellas because it seems like in Japan, it rains every day. And like other Asian countries, umbrellas are also used to cover people from the sun. It was SO hot that day...we were probably the only ones using CLEAR umbrellas to block the sun from us. :) By the way, who is up for starting a trend in the U.S. for using umbrellas to block the sun with me?? Love it!

Where's Dave?


Julie did an infamous jumping picture with an umbrella...

...and this was the result. It was pee in your pants funny, literally for some.

***

For lunch, we ate a tempura restaurant. This was our most memorable meal in Japan! The restaurant was small, only sat 10. The chef cooked right in front of us and he would serve the tempura piece by piece. We ate prawn, green pepper, wheat gluten, pumpkin, squid, shitake mushroom, tomato and okra. Everything was delicious - I heart tempura! I especially enjoyed the pumpkin and Dave especially enjoyed the tomato.

The aisle to get to the restaurant was very narrow.

The "waitress" took a picture of us after lunch. We were happy.
***

After, we went to the Imperial Palace but could only walk on the outside. We saw a gym class of boys and girls. The group of boys below were naughty - we think they ran when they were visible by their gym teacher and then walked when the gym teacher couldn't see them. Also, it seemed like the class was divided into athletic kids vs nonathletic kids. I wonder what group I would fit in...

***

We then went to the Nishiki Market. This was our first experience with a large Japanese market. This was different than markets in China because food was pre-packaged and overall, the market was clean. I prefer the markets in China because it "feels" more like a market and because it's less organized (and therefore more chaotic which is fun).

The food and drink portions are much smaller than in the U.S. Sometimes we would still be a little hungry after a meal but then got used to it. Maybe our stomachs shrunk a little bit in Japan? I think we over-eat in the U.S. (which I'm guilty of). For the large size, there are two straws because they assume people share...smart!

***

For dinner, we ate at a restaurant where you sit on the floor. As you may guess, Rob and Dave struggled - this was our first, and last time eating at this type of restaurant. :)