Day 5

So today I woke up at around 8 a.m. and went to a french style deli to eat my breakfeast that consisted of a croisant + cold cuts, a bit of yoghourt and coffee.

My little sandwich bento

The people are allways so polite and it's such a refreshing change from the typical finish atmosphere. From there on i went to a temple just next to my ryokan. It was huge and very, very beautiful indeed. Large pillars and big halls with gold ornaments and beautiful carvings. Then I went to a mall and bought a bit of clothes and new shoes (they had a bargain sale going on and I got my adidas shoes for about 2900 yen (aprox. 29 euro) and from there I went to a grocery store and bought me a bit of bento and ate it at my ryokan.

From there I walked to the nearest "rent a cycle" that I could find ant rented a bike for the day for 800yen + 200 yen insurance and from there on I was of to venture the city. I got a map from the friendly owner. I went to see a couple of nearby temples (Japan is full of big and small tempels and shrines, in Kyoto alone there is over 200 (aprox.) ). I cycled to Gion ("Geisha" part of town, very cultural) and passed beutifull scenerys, cyckled to a shrine called "sanjusango", it is famous for its 1001 lifesize budha statues. Trully astounding plaze, it's a go to spot when in Kyoto. I continued to spin around untill i had to return the bike at 7 p.m. and from there i continued by foot to a mall and a busy shoping arcade/street. And because today was the 31.12.2011 (new years eve) I went to a new years carneval at a lokal shrine. IT RULED!!!!! There vere literally thousands of stands selling food,deserts, good luck charms, fortune tellings etc. I was flabbergasted ! The atmosphere was warm and lively and there you could really feel the pulse of the city. I bough my first "melon pan" that is a type of sweet bread (does not taste like melon, name only!). I allso bought myself one sesame ball, it tasted really good and sweet I really should had bought more but I was a bit skeptic so I dared only to buy one cause I hadn't tasted one before. At aprox. 10 p.m. i started to head towards an Irish bar I had seen on my way to the town and desided that I'd spend the rest of my new years eve there. And I tell you, it was the right choise for me to do so. They had live music and everybody was very friendly. There was other foreigners also but also many japanese. I got to know the performers (japanes also) and chated with them and had a really god time. I had one of those moments that you realize that you know a lot more of a language than you think. We talked only in japanese and it wil go down in the books as a golden memory for me. When the year changed from 2011 to 2012 they gave us complimentary noodles and shampagne (no cheap stuff eighter), we tosted and the eavning continued smoothly. Then I got  back later on and went to sleap.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012 !
Here are some pictures from this day, sorry for the layout.