spoiling ourselves on a saturday at KINOSAKI ONSEN!

9.a.m. the alarm goes of and we wake up. Today is a bit special, we have to change our room temporarily because of the mishap with the reservation I have told you earlier about but no problems there, we just took our stuff out of the room and that was that. Today we're doing a trip outside of Kyoto to Kinosaki onsen. It's  located about 3 hours from Kyoto and is a hot spring town, small but beautiful and most important renowned  for it's hot springs. We ate our breakfast at Delifrance, near the station. This is the place I have written about during my last trip to Japan, last winter. They still served the delicious Croisant with a serving of sallad and a cold cut and coffee, so this is what I chose again and took a melonpan or "melon" bread as an extra delight for myself. The name for this sweet bun comes from the shape of the surface since it is cut to diamond shapes before going to the own, giving it, when ready, the shape of an small "melon".

Morning set

I myself have tried to make these sweets at home since they are so delicious and recommend you do so also.
Here is a link to a good recipe: http://home-baking.net/english/bread/melon-bread.php. I encourage you to have a go! 

Well back to my day. We then walked to the station and ordered the tickets to Kinosaki onsen, the JR-Pass saved us some money again since the train going there is operated by JR. Yay! 

Well we still had some time before the train left so we spent this time spinning around at the JR Isetan, a mall inside the station. We bought some sandwiches and sodas to the train and boarded. After a few hours and just one small change of trains we were finally there. The sight was amazing, this little town with cool houses from times of ye' old. The views that had passed us on the train were already breath taking but this took it to another level since we actually could breath history and bathe in it (literally). We took of to the first onsen, and man oh man was it good. Fist there is the outside of the onsen where there is a foot bath. The water was warm and refreshing. We sat there a good while until we moved inside. We then took and bought the pass for one day to allow us to go to every onsen in the town! The ticket was really cheap, only 1000 yens and convenient. Inside we went through  the men's changing room to the men's bathing area. There was an inside part and an outside part. We went through all the inside baths + the steam sauna that we found, then we went upstairs for the outside bath, it was my favorite. There was also a normal sauna outside but it is different from the Finnish saunas since you can't throw water on the heater, sad but acceptable. Then we went and washed and were on our way. We bought our tickets back in an early phase of this trip since we wanted to make sure that we got seats on the train back. Well then after buying the tickets we went to our next bath that was much more hotter. We passed on our way some local gift shops and from there we bought some famous Ramune soft drinks to drink while walking. We then walked pass a little stand that sold foods. We decided to try the famous Onsen tamago witch literally means "hot spring egg". You prepare it by putting the raw eggs in a bag and then putting it in a hot spring for about ten minutes. The egg is by this time soft but not cocked hard. We bought some local beers to go with it and it was good. I myself like hard boiled eggs but still it's a great gimmick and a delicious treat anyway! 

We had to leave shortly after this so that we would not miss our train. I wished that we had have more time here, but sadly we came on a Saturday so the trains didn't go so late anymore so we had to take the 18.18 train back which was the last one today. 

 
We were tired on our way back because we had had such a relaxing day and when we arrived back at Kyoto we went to eat since we had not done so on the whole day, with the exception of the sandwiches and the eggs. We then came back to our room and did our laundry and went to sleep.

first real day in kyoto

So today we woke up as allways at 9.a.m. since we have noticed that this is a good time to wake up if not even earlier. Today we ate our bread and strawberry jelly with our coffee, cortecy of the ryokan of course, and then made our way outside. Today the weather was not the best possible since it was raining quite alot.
We started of by walking to the famous Sanjuusangendo temple that was actually right next to our ryokan. This particular temple is known for it's 1001 Buddha statues sculptured by hand and gilded. The sight, even though I've already seen it once, was immaculate, astonishing, breath taking ! Each and every one of them unik, no one was completely the same. After spending a good while here we finally left. We then proceeded to spin around for awhile not really sure where to go since it was a kind of damp and rainy weather so we thought that it might be best to stay inside. We thought for a while of going to the Kyoto national museum but then hesitated after seeing the outsides being renovated and decided that we didn't want to go. So we went to look at nearby shrines and found a few and man were they beautiful with their gardens. We then went to the nearby seven eleven to withdraw some money as it started to rain a bit again. We decided that, since we were hungry, we would eat. We walked to the nearest CoCoIchi restuarant and had a delicious curry meal before continuing. The weather was looking a bit better so we went on with my original plans of visiting the Kyomizudera, or "pure water tempel" that is a landmark for Kyoto. It's picturesque beauty and it's charming surrounding really make it on of the many "must see's" of Kyoto.
Kyoto has so many things to see and offers new experiences for every day so it is a perfect place for a longer stay.
Well on we went and saw the grounds and the temple and drank some of the famous pure water since it was the temple for pure water :)
Afterwards we walked down the long streets filled with stands selling everything, I bough a packet of local sweets and ate a macha ice-cream. [Macha = Japanese powdered green tea].

It started soon raining so we turned back towards our ryokan to rest for a while. On our way I popped in to a local pottery shop and bought a tea cup and a pan. Now I just need the tea, (note to self ).
We bought some cup noodles and other goods from the convenience store and ate them at the ryokan. It was getting pretty late already so we decided to quickly take a shower and go to the mall since the weather had gotten worse and there was nothing to do outside. I bought some clothes and Kimi looked around. We are going to come back tomorrow to by him a new belt since they took his belt buckle at the helsinki-vantaa airport since it was in a form of a grenade, lucky him huh?
After all this we came back and went on the computer for a while and then strait to bed so that we would be well rested for tomorrow.

Nagoya ->Kyoto

So again we woke up at 9 a.m. so that we could leave the room in time since you had to check out at 10 a.m. so that they could make the room for the next guests who were coming. So we took our stuff and thanked the kanrinin-san [Kanrinin-san = Landlord or, as in this case, owner]. We went to eat breakfast at the nearby Komeda's Café from where we then walked shortly to the metro station. We left our stuff in a coin locker at Nagoya station and went for a walk around the city center. These coin lockers are seriously handy when traveling here in Japan.
We found a buffé* that we decided to visit after a short spin around the block. It was during this time that they had the lunch special so it only costed 750 yen and it was an all you can eat. [Side note* In japan the Buffes that are all you can eat style, are called VIKING's "baikingu"] There were different foods and drinks that we tried and had an all and all filling meal. We then shortly after finishing eating (there was a time limi, 45 min ) we went to get our stuff and took the Nozomi express train to Kyoto, it  only took 40 minutes to get to Kyoto so we were in good time there. Kyoto really is one of my favorite places in Japan since it's so quaint and friendly big "LITTLE" city. We then took of to find our Ryokan.


I tried and remember the routs there that I did pretty well until we had to find the right crossing to the part of town where I had'nt yet spent so much time in. Well after a couple of long walks and turnarounds we were given the right direction by a kind old man who noticed that we were lost. I love the friendliness that roams throughout whole Kyoto, everybody's so kind and helpful. We then found the right place went in for a little surprise. There was no answer at the door when we called in and rang the bell. We went inside and hollered and then an woman came to great us. Apparently she had been upstairs making the beds for another guest. We soon found out that there had been a mishap with our reservation. They didn't find it but were able to get us a room and gave us a generous discount on top of that. We only had to wait since she did not have the room ready so we left our stuff there and went out. I wanted to go to a Internet cafe to write on my blog and to check my mail and such so that's what we did. Kimi went to get a small bite while I was on the computer.
After finishing we went back towards our ryokan and settled in. We took a shower and after a while went out to a convenience store. We bought some bread, strawberry jam and coffee. We then proceeded back and went to sleep

Nagoya (third day)

After leaving the last nights far behind we woke up gladly, but tiredly, at 9 a.m. to start another glorious day of exploring and adventure. We had a few ideas as to where we were going to go, for example: The Toyota car and manufacturing museum, Nagoya castle etc. So we left towards the subway station at kamimaezu to take the subway towards Nagoya sta. we then proceeded to go to the info to inquire about the tour bus that I had read about in the travel pamphlet that I had. We were soon pointed to the right direction and bought the whole day pass, for just 500 yens, for the tour buss from the driver. First stop was the Toyota museum, and boy you bet that it was amazing. I had no Idea that they started off by making machines at first. They first made prototypes for industrial use looms to make fabrics and then they started producing them. Then later on they switched to making other cool things like prototypes for microscopes etc. and then of course came the probably best part of the whole museum, The car museum room. And let me tell you something, this is absolutely something you should see if in Japan and in Nagoya. There were the process of building the car laid out on display from start to finish and there were the most cool old, retro, modern and even futuristic models on display at the room. This was well worth visiting I can tell you with certainty. And as we still are young and dumb, me and Kimi went to the children's area to play and drive with "race cars". :) We had fun.

The weather outside was scorching hot and as we sat outside under the roof waiting for the tour buss we dreamed of drinking something cold. We hopped on the buss and went to the Nagoya Castle. It is one of the   famous castles of Japan even tough it is a reconstruction, the original was burnt during the second world war. Nevertheless the reconstruction is made by utilizing old techniques and similar materials and even some originals and it was made in the same style. The new castle is very beautiful and the surrounding gardens and structures make this one of the "Must visit" places in Nagoya. Before we entered there to the castle grounds we took of and went to one of my favorite Curry chain restaurants in Japan, CoCoIch. After packing our guts full of curry-licious goodness we went inside. It was beautiful indeed. After spending a good while there we left. We then headed for a famous shopping street. While walking towards the Nagoya station we found a 100yen shop and went inside. Surprised that not everything was a 100 yen we browsed for the cheap stuff.    I bought four different types of Pocky sticks (chocolate covered sticks) and also other sweets for home, then we decided that it would be cool to eat some cup noodles tonight so we bought some meat cup noodles to take with us to the ryokan. From there we headed straight to the Ryokan, put our clothes in the washer, ate our cup noodles, took a bath/sauna+beer/shower combination and took our clothes out of the dryer (to which they had magically been put into by, surprise, surprise, ME) and then went to our room to drink some beers. Sleep came easy that night allso. 

second day madness

Tsukiji

After a very long and good nights sleep we finally woke up at 6.30 a.m., we had slept for 12 consecutive hours and felt great. we got up and packed our bags since Kosuke had to go to work that day and we were leaving for Nagoya in the evening so we found it best to take our stuff now and put them in a coin locker at the station. So after Kosuke had prepared us a breakfast and we had ate it , we left for the train station. Kosuke took the same train that we, towards Tokyo station, and hopped off after a couple of stops. We said our goodbyes and planed to meet again when we come back to Tokyo on the 13.7. We then got of at Tokyo station and went to the coin lockers to put our stuff away. It was around 10 o´clock when we had finished closing the locker door. I suggested that we go to the Tsukiji fish market since it was still so early. We had missed of course the famous auctioning of tuna fish but it was still open for regular shopping and general browsing.

tamagoyaki

It was amazing! Stinky but amazing. We went around the lot and through the selling areas and even visited the local shrine inside this place. It was a little shrine inside of the huge selling area.
We went to a small selling district that was right next to the fish market to browse around. I spotted a tamagoyaki vendor and vent to by myself one. Kimi tasted a bit from me and bought one too (only 100Yen). [TAMAGOYAKI=fried beaten eggs, these are usually available in different forms, for example: soy tamagoyaki, sweet tamagoyaki, dashi tamagoyaki etc.] We ate the sweet tamagoyaki, It was delicious but weird. :)

We walked around for a while and found ourselves soon in a yard with a big palace sort of building which turned out to be the Tsukiji shrine or something like that. It was a big western like building with large towers and two wings from the main building.

 

We just looked around for a while and left for the train station again. We took the train and went to Harajuku hoping to find some cosplaying people who usually hang around  Harajuku. Well we did´t stay for so long so we didn´t see any but we decided that we will come back next time since this time we only went to mcdonalds to have a chicken burger to Kiddy land just for laughs and to a mall. Kiddy land is a children´s store full of toys and other fun stuff. We then went to a big mall and ended our stay with some starbucks coffee. We took the train to Tokyo station and started to make our way to Nagoya.
Well everything seemed to go well at first, we got seats at the non-reserved car of the Kodama rapid train for Nagoya and sat down and relaxed. Time went by and it was already 7P.M. when we arrived and it was then when reality hit us bad. We didn´t know the way there since we dind´t have the address or telephone number written down so we had to find a place with W-LAN. Of course no such place was found after painstaking 1 hours and we ate in between. So I decided that I had to call to a friend to ask if they could do it for us. So first I tried Kosuke, but he did not answer, so I then finally tried Miho and thank god she and her boyfriend answered and got us the number and address. We then called the Ryokan and asked for directions.[Ryokan=Japanese style inn] We got our directions and headed to the metro station and finally after few wrong turns arrived at the ryokan. The personal was very understanding and helpful. We decided to go take a bath and were delighted to find a SAUNA !!!!! In the public bathing area. Sadly it was already closed so we decided to go there tomorrow, but we still took a shower and bathed in the big warm water pool. Needles to say that after all that we went through and the relaxing bath, we fell asleep quickly.

First day in japan (2.7)

So we had survived the long 9 hour flght from Helsinki to Narita airport with Kimi and were a bit exhausted. We tought that since the breakfeast that the plane served was a bit unsatisfactionary that we would go and eat breakfeast at the airport.
I found us some place that was not so expencive and we went there with Kimi. I decided that I wanted to try immediately something typically Japanese so I took the Tororo soba (buckwheat noodles served cold with condiments), Kimi on the other hand took the pancake set. After eating we went back to the east terminal wing to find the JR-group stand so that we could get our JR-Passes. After the exchange of tickets against vouchers we were of to Tokyo station with the amazing N`ex train. We arived there and i called my frien Kosuke so that we could meet him. He told us the way to his house by train (he lives in Chiba) so we went to take it when something unexpected happened. While on our way to the platform I heard someone calling out to me! It was Robert, a friend from Finland who had arived to Japan 1 month prior to me and what a coincidence it was! We had made no arangements to meet eachothers and heck, I did`nt even know he still was here in Japan. We took the same train and talked a bit. They were on their way to the Tokyo Disney land so they hopped of the train a bit earlier.

Extra cat picture for your reading delight

After that we soon arived (tired) to kosukes station where he came to get us.
We walked to his house to take a shower and to leave our stuff there. After all that we went for a walk around town and to eat. We went to a high tower to look at the view of the city.
After that we started to get a bit hungry so we desperately searched for a place untill we found one near the station area. We ate Curry,Yumy!
Well after a bit further strolling we went back to the house. We were super tired, seriously never ever been this tired in my life so we decided to go to sleap at 6p.m. allready !!!! We slept a good 12 hours that night.

Chiba

Bye bye once again Finland !

OK, I'm off !

My flight leaves at 4p.m. finish time and will arive somewhere around 8 a.m. in Japan. 

See you !