Touristing

Daryl always says to keep active after a race to help with recovery. Well I certainly did that today, although I am not entirely sure how wise walking 20 odd kilometres around the foothills of Kyoto was.

Still, what an awesome place. It was always our plan to have today to ourselves to do a little bit of sightseeing. After some recommendations from friends we decided the day would be best spent in Kyoto. Getting there was a simple process, two trains, taking not quite 90 minutes. We even got to travel on the Shinkansen, which is Japan's high speed train system. Very cool.

We knew that with only one day there we would only be able to scratch the surface of Kyoto, so rather than run around like mad we decided to concentrate on one area and take our time going through it, which is just what we did. We decided to head to the base of the Higashiyama Mountains on the recommendation of our Lonely Planet. We then spent the rest of the day visiting temples and shrines, and walking up and down hills and stairs almost continually. My legs and feet are now particularly happy with me.

What a beautiful area though and that was only one tiny part of it. I can see why people consider Kyoto one of the must see cities of the world. Just made me keen to come back and see more of the city and this amazing country.

Our day of touristing wraps up our trip to Japan though, we head home tomorrow and get back to 'normal' life. This has been an amazing trip, but I think we are now keen to be home.

When I have a day or travel ahead of me, I usually say I will try and get online to do a blog later in the day. However, in this case I know that will not happen. I am travelling between about 8:00am and midnight and so I know for a fact that I will not be on a computer. Should be back to normal by Wednesday though.

Sayonara