Nijo castle surroundings
As I mentioned in my First impressions of Kyoto blog post, it was late afternoon when I first walked around in Kyoto and I decided to just explore the surroundings of Nijo castle. The closing time of the Nijo castle is 17:00 and it is a big place, so I moved that activity to the next day. However, I was still able to take some beautiful pictures, which you can see in this article.
The outside of Nijo castle is a great place to take pictures. So, if you are really tight on your travel budget, you can also just take some pictures on the outside.
I don't know if it is sheer coincidence or that there are just a lot of white cars in Kyoto, but I happened to take a picture with only white cars. I also saw this beautiful building with a green roof and green walls. It actually inspired me to write an university assignment about this topic years later. I learned that it is not only beautiful to look at (it has a calming effect on people and we really need less stressed out people in this world), it also isolates the building and that is good for temperature control.
After walking around, I got pretty hungry, but I couldn't seem to find a restaurant in the neighborhood. Luckily, you can almost find a convenience store, such as Lawson and 7-eleven, on every street corner. I was able to buy some cup ramen and canned seafood for dinner. It was actually quite delicious! The seafood made the soup of the cup ramen taste richer. For dessert, we ate some oranges that we bought at one of the mom and pop stores, that I found in the area.
After having our cup ramen meal in our hotel room, we walked around in the hotel and happened to see a geisha perform a tea ceremony. It was the first time, I saw a geisha in person and she moved very gracefully. I wish I could be that lady-like, as I am more of a tomboy.
The outside walls and outer moat of Nijo castle
The outside of Nijo castle is a great place to take pictures. So, if you are really tight on your travel budget, you can also just take some pictures on the outside.
I don't know if it is sheer coincidence or that there are just a lot of white cars in Kyoto, but I happened to take a picture with only white cars. I also saw this beautiful building with a green roof and green walls. It actually inspired me to write an university assignment about this topic years later. I learned that it is not only beautiful to look at (it has a calming effect on people and we really need less stressed out people in this world), it also isolates the building and that is good for temperature control.
The end of my first day in Kyoto
After walking around, I got pretty hungry, but I couldn't seem to find a restaurant in the neighborhood. Luckily, you can almost find a convenience store, such as Lawson and 7-eleven, on every street corner. I was able to buy some cup ramen and canned seafood for dinner. It was actually quite delicious! The seafood made the soup of the cup ramen taste richer. For dessert, we ate some oranges that we bought at one of the mom and pop stores, that I found in the area.
After having our cup ramen meal in our hotel room, we walked around in the hotel and happened to see a geisha perform a tea ceremony. It was the first time, I saw a geisha in person and she moved very gracefully. I wish I could be that lady-like, as I am more of a tomboy.
