But Wait, There's More!

So, we took a lot of pictures on our trip to Kyoto. I didn't want to clutter up the blog with all of them, so I posted them to my flickr site here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/99336709@N00/sets/72157621786455961/with/3777654786/ Enjoy the pictures!

We sure had a great time. Tessa wrote a great and long account of the trip (see the post below) but I just wanted to share a couple tidbits from my perspective.

The first 24 hours were pretty rough. About 10-11 hours of bus riding, no showering and less than an hour of sleeping. We were wet from the rain and from the humidity when it wasn't raining. Once we finally checked in and slept on a bed (!!!) and showered, we were OK. You have to understand, we haven't slept on a bed since our training in Mito back in the first week of April. Our apartment has a Japanese style futon, which is nothing like the American couch/bed combo on a frame. Our futon is basically a few pads and comforters stacked on top f each other and covered by a sheet. It has no frame, and rests on the floor. Because of this, it is also very important to hang it outside and air it out at least once a week to prevent mold/mildew and things like that. So, long story short, bed = us very excited.

As Tessa said, I really liked the "Genghis Khan" platter we ate in Kyoto. Grilled lamb, bean sprouts, pumpkin, green peppers, and that sauce. Normally I don't go for those kinds of veggies, but the sauce that we had to dip them in was delicious, or "oishii" as the Japanese would say. I don't know what the sauce was, but it was thin, kinda like a broth, sweet, spicy, and flavorful. Mmmmmm....

My favorite place we visited was probably Nijo-jo, the ancient Japanese castle formerly occupied by the Shogun. We got to walk inside a palace inside of it, which was really cool. The floorboards inside squeak with a distinct, unique sound, a design so that guards could hear any intruders. There were also many different tatami lined rooms that had beautiful paintings on the walls and sliding wooden doors. Sadly, cameras were not allowed inside.

Well, I don't have much else to say, other than what Tessa already said. Hopefully I'll be able to get postcards out to people soon. Bye!