Gion, Kyoto

Surprisingly, I slept really well at our new accommodation.  We are staying at a capsule hotel in Osaka.  Now this is an interesting concept.   I believe Japan is the only place you can find these type of hotels.  Basically all amenities are shared such as the bathrooms, showers, and common room.  The beds are located together in the capsule room.  Each bed looks like a pod and each has its own television.  There's only enough space in each pod to lay down or sit up.

Today we took the train to Kyoto, which is only a 30 minute ride from Osaka and no reservations are needed.  Its like riding the subway.   Cammie really wanted to rent bikes.  Honestly I wasn't too thrilled about riding around Kyoto with no helmet, not knowing where I'm going, and no practice.  The closest thing to riding I have done lately is spin class which doesn't count because the bikes are glued to the ground. But hey, I'm a good sport...

Turns out that the whole bikes idea was fantastic!  It was very easy to navigate our way to Gion district.  I give all the credit to Cammie and her iPhone.

The Gion district was loaded with people and we biked our way through the crowds eventually finding a place to park so that we can take a walk down a street named in Lonely Planet as the most beautiful street in Asia.  I can't argue with them on this one.  The cherry blossoms were in full bloom and it was so amazing.  Because this is the Geisha district, we ran into a few geisha being escorted down the street.  One of them was an actual geisha, and the other one was a tourist dressed up as one.  To be fully made up in Geisha costume costs about $150 dollars.

This one is the Geisha dressed up.  You know this because she has an escort that holds up a sign that says its a fake geisha. 

 

The Gion district was loaded with shops of all sorts selling everything from trinkets to sweets. 

The next stop was the Mesu Temple.  Sorta a hike up a hill, we parked below and walked through the madness of people and crowed shops up to the temple which overlooks Kyoto.  We stopped for an ice cream of course!

Tonight in Osaka Cammie and I splurged and had a fancy Japanese steak cooked to perfection!  Japanese steaks are flat, and very fatty.  They have so much flavor, it was mouth watering!