We dropped off our bags at our hotel across from the Kyoto train station. Then, we headed for Nonenzaka, a street that was supposed to be filled with older houses and shops. On our way, we looked over a tiny bridge to see tons of cherry blossoms going downstream. When we turned to continue walking, Miles somehow banged his knee, opening up an old scab. While Miles was holding a tissue on it, a random woman came up to us offering two bandaids, and then continued on her way, just as fast as she came. Was super cool and unexpected.
When we arrived at the street, it was an absolute mob scene of tourists. As soon as I saw what was happening, I took this picture and turned to go in the opposite direction.
One other bit that I noticed was that the amount of people who had rented kimino outfits, that we ended up seeing throughout the day, were in the hundreds. It felt more like a dragoncon gone wrong than exploring Japan. It was embarrassing. They looked ridiculous and hobbled along, barely able to move their legs, all while wearing sandals. Absolutely ridiculous.
We headed northwest, towards two art shops that had old drawings. We browsed briefly and continued heading north towards the Kyoto Museum of Traditional Crafts. We walked through the gift shop and through the museum, which was just as beautiful as I remembered, except this time, there were craftsmen demonstrating a few crafts. We all enjoyed that.
Just a few minutes north of that was the Tozando Shop, which we peaked into just to see their antique swords. Then, we headed east toward the Philosopher's Path. I walked on this path back in July, enjoying the solitude and peacefulness. I had read that it was even more beautiful in cherry blossom season. On our way, we ran into a few people in suits.
Other than the suit convention, the streets had nearly no tourists. Then, we arrived at the Path.
The street was overrun by tourists with selfie sticks. The whole scene was ludicrous and ugly, despite the blossoms. In addition, dozens of shops and kiosks had opened along the street just to add to the whole vibe of suckiness. We barely made it halfway before I just turned and walked away out of disgust.
We had been walking all day and had not accomplished much of anything. I had wanted to reach the silver temple, at the end of the philospher's path, but we would have ended up being five to ten minutes too late. Our timing was just off. I had also originally planned to tackle the mountain path that I had lost my phone on during my first Kyoto visit, but I was just too tired, uncomfortable with my cold, and it was getting late.
One of the biggest negatives of Kyoto is its poor transportation system compared to other Japanese cities. We ended up packed into a bus being pushed into poles and other people for nearly 40 minutes in order to get to our hotel. We ended the day there.
I absolutely loved my visit in Kyoto the first time around. This time was the opposite. The most memorable moments were those that I had exploring the city without loads of tourists. Maybe this just wasn't the time of year, but last time it was in the summer, which I would imagine is fairly high tourist season too...
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