Imperial Palace, Kyoto
Whilst I like my fancy new computer the absence of Japanese on it is really starting to peeve me!
Anyway, as I was planning to say - 'Muryou' is my favourite word! Free, baby! As was this little excursion to the Imperial Palace in Kyoto! Admittedly it was so darn hot I thought I might pass out and I found it very hard to make out the guides English (on my second trip here I decided that it wasn't just me and that she had some kind of speech impediment - now I can rest easy knowing that it's not my ear drums that have finally succumbed and split, but someone else's failing body at fault! yay!)
Some of the best things we did in Kyoto were the free things - the places that weren't the top of the tourist's priority list. Such as Kiyomizu (Pure Water temple) famous as it is, which lost something due to the swarming masses.
Whilst the old shugan's Kyoto residence, Nijo-jo, was probably more fascinating for the fact your enter and walk around in it - squeaking across the reknowned 'Nightingale' floorboards - the Imperial Palace was interesting to wander through to get a sense of the scope of the lifestyle of the elite in Japan of the past - amazing when you compare it to the clean though hovel-like one-room places you can see about (Shitamachi Museum in Ueno Park, Tokyo) that are typical examples of the dwellings of the plebs.
They had all different styles of architecture there - I particularly loved the colours and design of this gate . . . like a lolly but better as you don't have to eat it!
Anyway, as I was planning to say - 'Muryou' is my favourite word! Free, baby! As was this little excursion to the Imperial Palace in Kyoto! Admittedly it was so darn hot I thought I might pass out and I found it very hard to make out the guides English (on my second trip here I decided that it wasn't just me and that she had some kind of speech impediment - now I can rest easy knowing that it's not my ear drums that have finally succumbed and split, but someone else's failing body at fault! yay!)
Some of the best things we did in Kyoto were the free things - the places that weren't the top of the tourist's priority list. Such as Kiyomizu (Pure Water temple) famous as it is, which lost something due to the swarming masses.
Whilst the old shugan's Kyoto residence, Nijo-jo, was probably more fascinating for the fact your enter and walk around in it - squeaking across the reknowned 'Nightingale' floorboards - the Imperial Palace was interesting to wander through to get a sense of the scope of the lifestyle of the elite in Japan of the past - amazing when you compare it to the clean though hovel-like one-room places you can see about (Shitamachi Museum in Ueno Park, Tokyo) that are typical examples of the dwellings of the plebs.
They had all different styles of architecture there - I particularly loved the colours and design of this gate . . . like a lolly but better as you don't have to eat it!
posted by Eleanora Martinez at 1:19 AM
1 Comments:
it's so good to hear your travel stories! i'll post your birthday present this week.
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