The post that almost wasn't

As late as Tuesday evening I was pretty sure I'd be writing a "I did nothing this weekend" post. Typhoon 15 was churning it's way North pushing a lot of rain in front of it. Tuesday was quite gray and soggy. I spent pretty much the entire day sitting around the house which, while relaxing, wasn't much to write home about.

To my great fortune, however, Tuesday evening Typhoon 15 decided to take a hard right turn and spin off into the Pacific, clearing up Wednesday's weather quite nicely. Realizing that I hadn't been to Kyoto in a while I decided to make that the day's outing. In the same vein of realization I remembered that I still hadn't seen the inside of the Imperial Palace AND that Wednesday was NOT a Sunday or a national holiday (the reason I hadn't been before.)

Continuing my current trend of taking tons of photos when I go out I took a whopping 215 on Wednesday alone. And continuing my current trend of posting is another mostly photo post.

Prelude: I arrived in Kyoto about noon and, after getting some lunch, walked up the river to the palace grounds. I almost didn't go inside (again!) Lucky for me a nice couple from Nevada asked me which gate to enter the palace from. I noted I was going the same way and offered to show them. At the gate there was a sign directing interested parties to another building to get a pass before being allowed to enter the palace. Had I been alone I would have thought it too much trouble but, in the interest of helping the tourists we walked together to where the other building was. We had to show our passports (well, I had to show my Gaijin-ID) and then we received a stamped pass which allowed us past security and into the palace proper. Much to our luck there was an English language tour starting just as we arrived. (Lucky because you can't walk around the palace un-escorted.)

A mantis (6" long!) on the gravel outside the palace.
(He stopped and posed while I took the picture, the scurried off.)

One of 6 gates to the palace.
Interesting point #1: the white paint on the ends of the boards is to stop termites.

A special gate build for the current Emperor's coronation.
This is the only building still used by the Emperor on a regular basis.

The grand hall containing the thrones used for imperial coronations for the last few hundred years.
Interesting point #2: the vermilion color on the posts (left/right of the picture) is bright so as to keep away evil spirits.

The old Imperial residence. The Emperor's room faces East so as to catch the breeze in the summer.

One of two gardens on the palace grounds.
Look closely to see a heron(?) sitting on the bridge.One little tree seems to think it's autumn already.
Interesting point #3: Such is the fear of fire in the palace that fireworks are baned in all of Kyoto. (One of the palace buildings burned down from the ember of a fire work launched over a mile away back in the 1950's)

All the pine trees on the palace grounds are cut in the same "Imperial fashion."

After the palace tour was over I parted ways with my Nevadian friends and wandered off more or less in the direction I thought I had heard there was a castle in. After a bit of a hike I got lucky and found Nijojo (Nijo Castle.) I arrived at 3:45 to an announcement over loudspeaker that the main hall closed at 4:00. I made haste and did the interior circuit just in time. The castle grounds were open til' 5:00 so I was able to take my time wandering around. There were more "no photography" signs in the main hall than there was artwork so you just get outside shots.

Outside the mail hall.

A traditional Japanese garden incorporating rocks, plants, and water to convey a sense of expansive landscape in a relatively small area.

The view from the old castle tower base (the tower being long gone.)

The main gate closed promptly at 5:00. A small side gate was left open for visitors to exit.

Just when I thought my day was over... I was in Kyoto station about to go through the gates when I happened to see a map which listed and observation deck at the top of the station (the station is quite large and had a huge empty internal space.)

Kyoto tower (across from Kyoto station) at dusk.

Ya know, there's never a taxi when ya need one.

A beautiful end to a nice day.

That about wraps up yesterday's adventure. On a parting note I'm thinking about changing my posting day to Thursday. It's getting difficult to sort through so many pictures right after a grueling day's adventure, not to mention photo editing, uploading, and the writing of the post. We'll see...

Jaa Mata Ne.

P.s. I'd love to hear some feedback as to what you (yes, you Mr./Ms./Mrs./Dr. Blog reader) think of this blog. Constructive criticism (on things other than my horrible spelling) is always welcome.