2016-04-04, Sakura in Kyoto

Hiroko and I got up early on Sunday and headed to Kyoto where it was reported that the sakura were in full bloom.  The other choice had been Nagahama but the blossoms weren't very full there yet.  Next weekend.  The train was surprisingly crowded for a Sunday morning.  In addition to sightseers like us, there were lots of students going to sports events or practices so we ended up standing all the way there (1 hour).  It was supposed to rain so we wanted to get in as much hanami (flower viewing) as possible before the rain.  We arrived around 9:30 or 10 and there were already plenty of people out.  I had decided not to go to the most popular places since when I did that last year I couldn't even move, and the spotlights (for the night time 'light-ups') and the huge crowds really took away from the beauty and overall experience.  It wasn't hard to find places that were a little less crowded as there were sakura everywhere.  Lots of people as well but at least we could walk and stop to admire, without having to keep moving with the crowds.

We started at the Keage Incline which was used in the past to transport ships from Lake Biwa to canals in Kyoto.  Now it's a walking area, although you have to be careful because it's made of pebbles, there are park areas next to most of it.  It was beautiful.

This is a model of one of the ships (barges?) that would transport sake and rice.

Behind the fountain is the Kyoto zoo.  A little farther down we caught glimpses of the giraffes behind the cherry trees.
Kind of strange, giraffes and cherry blossoms in the same place...

The main entrance to the Heian Shrine.

 Following the canals is one of my tricks for not getting lost.
And since they were lined with sakura it was a beautiful walk.

We walked over to the Imperial Palace but wanted to find a place for lunch before we entered the grounds.  For some reason most places were closed but we finally found a soba (noodle) shop.

They served a really unusual tea called bancha.  It had a strong smokey taste.  I liked it, Hiroko didn't.

After we were refueled we headed back out to the Imperial Palace
grounds - a big park in the middle of Kyoto.

A late blooming plum tree.

A cat calmly admiring the view.  Or rather patiently tolerating all of us taking pictures of him!

Beautiful weeping cherries.  White and pink.

Lots of picnickers. 

A playground surrounded by sakura.

We were tired but we had more to see.  And it still wasn't raining, so on to the
Kyoto Botanical Gardens!

 

There was a dance competition at the gardens.

There are 70 kinds of of sakura early blooming to late blooming.

This is 'boke' - quince.

 

 

Snack time.  Hiroko's mother sent some delicious sweets as a gift.

A couple here for wedding pictures.

Dance competitors.

This was a really creepy sun dial.  It has the 12 Asian horoscope animals on it.  They are made of metal and immediately made me think of the thestrals in the Harry Potter books (not that thestrals are made of metal but there was something skeletal about these...).

Ok, we'd had enough.  After walking through a craft market that was being held next door in the Tadao Ando Fine Arts Garden Building we got back onto the subway and went to Kyoto station.  We still had a couple of hours before Hiroko's bus left for Tokushima so we bought some souvenirs, went through the import store, and walked through the gigantic underground mall.  Finally it was time to say goodbye and I left Hiroko at her bus stop about 10 minutes before her bus arrived so I could catch the train and bus back to Hikone.

She was a wonderful guest and a great travelling companion.  Unfortunately I don't think she'll be able to visit again this year because as a senior in high school she will be studying hard for her college entrance exams.  So it made this trip even more special for both of us.

I was so tired by the time I got home I ate a quick dinner, took a hot bath hoping it would help my sore feet (it did), and went to bed.  Aaaah.