Kyoto and Nara: Beautiful Cherry Blossom Season

After some intensive days of sightseeing, walking around and experiencing new things in Japan, it was time for a time out in form of a looooong lie-in. On Monday we slept probably until lunch time before we decided to slowly get up...

Pasci started to do some laundry and updating the Blog. It was the perfect day for not doing much, since it was raining quite a bit on that day.

It was not until sometime after 14.00 that we managed to leave the hotel :) Driven by our grumbling stomachs, we looked for a place to eat around Gion. Since we both were not patient enough, we decided to go for one of the first options we ended up to be a Tofu place. It turned out to be quite a good choice - lucky us!! :)

Pasci had some Tofu with Curry....very tasty! / Pasci hatte Tofu mit Curry....sehr lecker!

Mishell had a more fancy dish where the Tofu with the veggies & mushrooms were boiled together/ Mishell hatte ein eleganteres Menü in welchem das Tofu mit dem Gemüse&Pilzen in Suppe gekocht wurden

After lunch, we decided to go walking around Gion a bit more and look for early signs of Geishas or Maikos (apprentice Geishas) in the alleys of Gion. Gion is famous for the famous Geishas and Maikos who are apparently still working around the restaurants & bars in this part of Kyoto!

The weather was bad......REALLY bad.....raining all day! / Das Wetter war schlecht....SEHR schlecht....den ganzen Tag regen!

Beautiful alleys in Gion with traditional buildings / Wunderschöne Gassen in Gion mit traditionellen Gebäuden

Since it was still pouring down, we had another halt for our 'z'vieri' (afternoon tea) in a bun-place - where we read our books for a while. During our honeymoon, Mishell got hooked-up on the 'Twilight-saga' books and was reading through them in high-speed!

4 o'clock tea with some sweets (Custard Bun) / z'Vieri mit Süssigkeiten (Vanille-creme Gebäck)

Mishell got hooked up on the Twilight Saga....she takes the side of the vampires over the werewolves :) / Mishell was Süchtig nach der Twilight Saga....Sie ist auf der Seite der Vampiere und nicht der Werwölfe :)

After 4 o'clock tea.....STILL raining / Nachdem z'Vieri....Immernoch Regen

The cherry trees lose their petals in the heavy rain! / Die Kirsch-Bäume verlieren ihre Blüten im Regen

We eventually came to the theater where they were currently showing the 'Miyako Odori' which is a play by Maikos where they would perform various dance to traditional Japanese Music & Singing. The play is set in 8 acts where every two acts are set in one of the 4 seasons of the year. We got two tickets for a show on Tuesday (the next day)! Cool!

Announcing the Miyako Odori....a big event in town (only shown around this time of the year!) / Ankündigung des Miyako Odori....ein wichtiger Event in der Stadt (wird nur in dieser Jahreszeit gezeigt!)

Lots of lights in Gion / Viele Lichter in Gion

A quick stop back at the hotel and then it was time to go out for dinner. This time we were a bit more organized and we managed to get a booking in a restaurant where they serve the traditional 'sumo-wrestler' meal. As it turned out this meal - which is a soup - is actually nothing different than 'shabu-shabu' and the place had just some pictures and decorations of Sumo-Wrestlers. But the shabu-shabu was good anyway... :)

Unfortunately it was not Sumo-Wrestling season when we were in Japan.... / Leider war es nicht Sumo-Wrestling Sasion als wir in Japan waren

Pasci as Sumo-Wrestler....maybe some kilos missing but good attempt / Pasci als Sumo-Wrestler....vielleicht fehlen einige Kilos aber trotzdem guter Versuch

The ingredients for the Sumo-Wrestler soup...including Tajima Beef! / Die Zutaten für die Sumo-Wrestler Suppe....inklusive Tajima Rindfleisch!

After dinner we went to walk around Gion for a while. The streets are getting quite busy and one can spot Geishas at work.

Japanese Pizza.....unfortunately we did not get round to trying it! / Japanische Pizza....leider kamen wir nicht dazu, sie zu versuchen!

Alleys of Gion by night......beautiful & romantic! / Gassen von Gion bei Nacht....wunderschön & romantisch!

Geishas busily running around in the streets of Gion / Geishas laufen beschäftigt umher in den Strassen von Gion

The next day we had a full program, since we wanted to go to the 'Golden Pavillion', the theater show at around 16.00 and...and...and....Unlucky for us our alarm-clock did not ring :-/ (Or we did not want to hear it... you can believe us, travelling is tiring!!).

Anyway we got up way too late and therefore had to rush to the 'pavillion' - which is a 45minutes bus ride from our hotel. But of course not without a proper lunch beforehand (which caused an argument between the two of us) since we did not have breakfast.

The best option nearby (since the Matuzusaka beef burger place that Mishell had discovered was closed due to maintenance work..which made her unhappy!) was a 'Okonomiyaki' place which is a 'omelette' kind of egg-pan-cake with cabbage inside and you can have it with lots of different toppings.

Japanese Okonomiyaki..... we both did not like it too much! / Japanische Okonomiyaki...wir beiden mochten es nicht so sehr!

After a rushed lunch, we had to go and catch our bus (we had to wait for 20min for the bus to come!) to go to the Pavillion. We probably managed to get there by 15.00 and we were supposed to be back by 16.00 for the theater play.

So we rushed in, took a couple of pictures of the Golden Pavillion (very nice!) and rushed out. Got the bus back to town - which took ages due to the traffic. Decided to switch to the subway (to avoid traffic), got of the subway, took a cab and made it to the theater at around 16.08. That was o.k. since we could participate in a traditional Japanese 'tea-ceremony' before the theater starts (16.45). *pouh*

At the bus stop there was a place that sold cute Japanese sweets / An der Bushaltestelle hatte es einen Laden, welcher Japanische Süssigkeiten verkaufte

The Golden Pavillion.....very picturesque / Der Goldene Pavillion......sehr malerisch

The tea ceremony was a mass-production kind of event where there was a Maiko on the stage producing Matcha tea and everybody in the room got served a cup with a Japanese pastry. The theater play was an interesting experience. The Maikos wore beautiful costumes whilst performing their graceful dance.

We both were not totally impressed by the music and singing but it was a worthwhile experience!

View on the garden of the theatre / Aussicht auf den Garten des Theaters

Traditional Japanese tea ceremony / Traditionelle Japanische Tee Zeremonie

A Maiko with beautifully painted neck was sitting in front of us / Eine Maiko mit wunderschön bemaltem Hals ist vor uns gesessen

There were a few Geishas attending the play accompanying 'businessmen' / Einige Geishas waren im Theater welche 'Geschäftsleute' begleiteten

The stage of the theatre...no pictures allowed during the play / Die Bühne des Theaters...keine Bilder erlaubt während der Show

Picutres taken out of the program...the different scenes play in the different seasons of the year / Bilder aus dem Programmheft....die verschiedenen Szenen spielen in den verschiedenen Jahreszeiten

After the play we managed to get pictures of some more Geishas / Nach dem Theater konnten wir noch mehr Fotos von Geishas machen

Dinner on that day was lazzzy again....Pasci ordered a Pizza and Mishell got something from the hotel restaurant. And since Pasci managed to download some episodes of Desperate Housewives (season 6) and Grey's Anatomy (season 6) we decided to stay home and watch TV! A small piece of normality....COOL! :)

After that, we went for a soak in our in-house Japanese hot bath (VERY hot indeed) which helps relaxes the muscles so much that one gets a real good night's sleep afterwards.

A cosy evening at home.....a small piece of normality! / Ein gemütlicher Abend zu Hause...ein kleines bisschen Gewöhnlichkeit!

Comfy food for Pasci (Dominos Pizza) and..... / Lieblings-Essen für Pasci (Dominos Pizza) und....

.....Mishell: Beef with Soya sauce and onions with veggies / .....Mishell: Rindfleisch mit Soja Sauce und Zwiebeln mit Gemüse

Before moving on to Nara we had to go and see another highlight in (or to be precise around) Kyoto. The bamboo-forest in Arashiyama!

We managed to put all our luggage in two coin-lockers at the train station before catching the train to Arashiyama. After a short train ride, we were walking through the dense bamboo forest which is quite a special sight!

The bamboo trees shoot to your left and right up like grass-blades and with the wind in their leaves they make a bit of a scarry sound!

Bamboo forest in Arashiyama.....a wonderful eerie experience! / Bambus-Wald in Arashiyama...eine wunderschön unheimliche Erfahrung!

We stopped for lunch at a restaurant on the way where we had noodles-soup and enjoyed some new local desserts (chilled noodles with brown sugar sauce & shaved green tea ice)!

Lunch was Udon noodles / Mittagessen waren Udon Nudeln

Typical desserts from the Kyoto region: Chilled noodles with brown sugar sauce.... / Typisches Dessert von der Kyoto Region: Gekühlte Nudeln mit braunen Zucker Sauce.....

.....and shaved green tea ice with red beans / ....und gehobeltes Grüntee Eis mit roten Bohnen

Our train to Nara (which is about 45 minutes from Kyoto) left around 15.00. Pulling all our luggage from the station to the hotel in Nara (which was a crappy, overly expensive modern Ryokan) was another *fun* experience! :-/

Fruits are very expensive in Japan....1400 JPY = 17 CHF (!!)

We were excited to buy some strawberries in Nara / Früchte sind sehr teuer in Japan....1400 Yen = 17 CHF (!!) Wir waren froh, dass wir Erdbeeren kaufen konnten in Nara

After checking-in, we went straight out to look for the deers around the town (which are apparently very friendly and all over the place) and to see the famous Todaiji Temple.

'How to behave when you see a deer' / 'Wie man sich verhalten muss, wenn man ein Reh sieht'

A beautiful Pagoda right behind our Hotel / Eine wunderschöne Pagoda hinter unserem Hotel

For once we were lucky...almost right behind our hotel in a park we spotted the first deers! And they were really friendly :) o.k. i guess they just came to beg for food...But Mishell enjoyed to be popular among the deers (cause she got some deer-crackers!). The temple is really beautiful and has a massive Budha statue inside! :)

And there they were.....undisturbed by people walking around...loads of deers / Und da waren sie...ungestört von den Leuten die herumliefen....viele Rehe

Mishell improved her popularity among the deers bribing them with some deer-crackers / Mishell war sehr beliebt bei den Rehen, da sie Reh-Futter gekauft hat

Most of them were very cute...some got a bit naughty (hitting Mishell's bum with their head!) / Die meisten von Ihnen waren niedlicht....einige waren ein bisschen frecher (Stupften Mishell in den Hintern mit ihrem Kopf)

Escaping the deers we managed to get to the beautiful Todaiji Temple. We as well climbed to the mountain on the north side of the temple to enjoy a beautiful sunset from the top.

The Todaiji Temple.....

A beautiful Buddhist-statue.... / Eine wunderschöne Buddha Statue....

...Accompanied by warriors! / ....Begleitet von Krieger!

'Ooohhhhhh.....' - there he is again: The gay lion! / 'Ooohhhh.....' - da ist er wieder: Der schwule Löwe!

Aaaaaawwwwwww...........Honeymooners! :)

Climibing up the hill next to the temple we enjoyed the beautiful sunset / Nachdem wir den Hügel neben dem Tempel hochgeloffen sind, konnten wir den Sonnenuntergang geniessen

As we had time constraints to our travel in Japan we were confronted with the decision to either travel further south to Hiroshima (and to learn more about the history of Japan, especially about the A-bomb) or to try a traditional Japanese Onsen (hot spring) and relax! You can imagine what a though decision that was...

Japanese railway stations are awesome! Clean, efficient, trains are on time.... And they play a bird-chirping noise continuously in the background - which baffled us a bit/ Japanische Bahnhöfe sind super! Sauber, effizient, die Züge sind pünktlich....

Hmmmm.....not sure we understood it right what it means to be a backpacker....or do you spot a backpack in the picture??? / Hmmm....nicht ganz sicher ob wir es verstanden haben was es heisst ein 'Backpacker' zu sein....oder siehts Du einen Rucksack in dem Bild???

Our train left at 10.25..... guess to where? :) / Unser Zug fährt um 10:25.....rate nach wo? :)

Since we both like Sauna, chilling out and mountain atmosphere we decided for Onsen! Therefore the destination on the next day was: Kinosaki Onsen.