Tokyo to Kyoto

During my long-awaited trip to Japan, I went to Kyoto. I was a little worried before the trip, because the Japanese trains seemed so precise and organized to me that I was sure that if I made a mistake once, the whole system would collapse because of me. In practice, everything turned out to be much calmer, especially when I figured out the ticket and realized where my train was, although the habit of arriving at the station in advance still saved me a few nervous minutes.

Japan's high-speed trains

The train itself has become a separate part of the journey. After the rather noisy and eventful Tokyo, it was nice to just sit down, put a bag next to it and look out the window for a while. Japan was gradually changing outside the window, the urban development was replaced by more peaceful landscapes, and I finally felt that the journey had really begun, because before that everything was happening too fast.

Kyoto greeted me with a completely different mood. Here, for the first time during the trip, I felt that I could slow down a little and just walk down the street without trying to get somewhere every ten minutes. The narrow streets, traditional houses, temples, small shops, and completely different architecture made it feel like I was in Japan, which I had only seen in photographs before.

In Kyoto, I purposely left time for walks without a strict plan. Of course, I had a list of places to go without it, but I already realized that trying to visit everything in one day would end up with me looking at photos in the evening and wondering exactly where I had seen it all. Therefore, part of the day I just walked along the streets, looked into small shops and cafes and sometimes allowed myself to turn off the route.

Nijo Castle

One of the most pleasant moments was a walk through the historical districts of the city, where the contrast with Tokyo is especially well felt: fewer skyscrapers, less visual noise, more small details that you want to pay attention to. I was impressed by Nijo Castle, which is the former fortified residence of the Tokugawa shoguns. It is not only a national treasure of Japan, but also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  

I continued walking through historic Kyoto and several times caught myself thinking that instead of photographing another landmark, I was just standing and looking around, because the street itself already looked like a finished photograph.

At some point, I decided to have a bite to eat, confidently chose a place, sat down, looked at the menu and realized that my confidence ended with about the word "menu". 

As a result, I spent several minutes trying to figure out exactly what I was going to order, and then I just chose a dish at random and decided to consider it part of the cultural experience, because sometimes it's easier to admit defeat to an unknown Japanese dish on a trip than to try to pose as an expert. I guess I wasn't very hungry, I didn't like the taste. I wish I had ordered sushi.