Kyoto:

We checked into the Westin Miyako hotel. Our room wasn’t ready so they told us to come back at one. We got lunch at the hotel, then headed back down. Our room still wasn’t ready. Pretty weak Westin Miyako, pretty weak. But the girl behind the desk did some clerical Kung Fu and found us a different room. We stashed our stuff then went for a walk.

I think we actually enjoyed Kyoto more than Tokyo. We’d be walking along city streets and then there would be a trail that leads off through some trees, and when you go through there’s a giant gate leading to a giant temple. There would be a lake and beautiful well manicured trees, completely hidden from the streets and sidewalk just fifty meters away. It was like magic, only based on the laws of science that govern our universe, so not really magic.

So. Lots of temples. The Golden Temple. The Silver Temple, although the emperor died before he could cover it with silver so it’s silver in name only. But that makes sense. If I was a worker, and the boss died I’d probably be all like “Ok done here,” too. There was also the Nijo Castle. It had a moat and everything. But we couldn’t go inside. It was closed. But the guy who built it was paranoid, so he had all the rooms and hallways around his room built with creaky floors. See I would just think this was annoying, but then again no one wants to kill me to claim my throne…Or do they?

There was also the Imperial Palace, which we also couldn’t go in. But it was surrounded by this big cool park. So we walked around inside the park and could see all sorts of cool buildings. I feel like the Imperial Palace is a place were stuff like intrigue happens. And by intrigue I mean poisonings, assassinations, and possibly sword fights and karate. I didn’t see any though.

Then we walked along something called the Philosopher’s Trail. This is a long winding trail, about two kilometers along a pretty little stream through the outskirts of the city. It is said to be the place where royal poets, and yes philosophers, would walk and think and write poetry and philosophize. I stroked my chin a lot as we walked this trail it seemed like the right thing to do. I also kept saying things like, “I think therefore I am,” and “E=MC squared.” Angelica was all like, “Kevin, that’s not even philosophy, that’s physics,” and I said, “Is E=MC squared physics or is physics E=MC squared?” Then I raised my eyebrows. I’m good at philosophy.

We saw some other temples. They were all beautiful and inspiring and serene and a few other adjectives. We’ll show you pictures.

Most used phrase in Kyoto:
-That’s a temple all right