Bright blue skies and off to see royalty—that pretty much sums up Day 10! After such a tiring day yesterday, we didn’t get out of bed until about 7:00 and weren’t out of the apartment until gone 8:00.
Getting to our first stop was easy: catch a bus and stay on it as it headed west, all the way to Kinkakujicho—the Golden Palace.
The crowds had already started gathering when we arrived. We discovered it didn’t open until about 9:30, just after we got there, so there was a bit of a queue. We waited for it to thin out before heading in.
With all that gold, it was easy to see why it’s called the Golden Palace. We couldn’t get close to it—I reckoned they wouldn’t want anyone scraping the gold off! What a magnificent building, set in beautiful gardens. It was a sight to remember.
Jen was beaming. This was one of the places on her must-see list, and it was one of those moments when we thought, “Yep, we’re definitely in Japan. Now this is style!”
We slowly followed the route past the palace and through the gardens. There were a few birds about too, which naturally caught my eye. I really enjoyed this spot.
Next, we headed to Nijojo Castle. It felt more like a private residence for a very powerful family with plenty of influence with the emperor. Another impressive building, and the security features certainly gave me the impression that keeping assassins out had been a major concern! It was a very nice place to tour.
Finding the imperial castle was a bit more of a challenge. We caught a bus, then had a long walk across a couple of blocks to get there. Once we arrived, we found we couldn’t go inside, and a large section was under renovation. The gardens were beautiful, though.
By the time we’d finished, it was somewhere between 3:00 and 4:00, and Jane was getting tired again. To our amazement, we found Nishiki Market less than a block away, so back to the market we went.
Funny how Jane’s energy suddenly picked up when there was fabric to look for! She browsed the fabrics while I looked for food.
We got back to the apartment at about 6:00. We’d been picking at food in the market, so there was no need for dinner. All that was left was to relax and head to bed after another enjoyable day.
