We all woke again at our host's house around 4:00 am. It was pretty interesting trying to keep the boys out of trouble when you are in someone else's house and you don't want to wake them up. I think we did it. At least there were no complaints.
We crept down to breakfast at 7:00 am to find that coffee had already been brewed. After breakfast we set off for Kyoto again but by train this time from Ikoma. I found a brilliant little shop on the station and had the best raison danish I have ever had.
In Kyoto which has a massive rail station over several floors, we took a taxi to Nijo Castle. As with all taxis and most of the new cars here, a GPS system was installed on the dash. This one also had live TV and the driver gave the boys the remote control so they could select a suitable station. Just what you want really? I was surprised to see that a TV would be allowed where the driver could see in on the move. You are not allowed to use phones here whilst driving.
The taxi itself was immaculately presented. Even the door jambs were sparkling and I should know as I spent several years valeting cars for a living. All the trim inside was covered in lace which was then covered in a plastic protector. Very cute. The cars they use are a custom built Toyota Crown with automatically opening rear doors. The car pulls up beside you and the driver pops the door. It was a bit disconcerting when it first happened but quite useful when you get used to it.
Nijo Castle was built in the very early 1600s for a Shogun and his warriors. It has a double moat and walls about 40 foot thick at the base. Inside the compound are traditional Japanese buildings and also some beautifully painted panels.
After getting some lunch at a MacDonalds (didn't think I would ever be glad to see one of those) we went to the ryokan. Our host Jerry had booked us into a traditional Japanese inn for the night. This included a traditional diner and breakfast in the Japanese dining room and the experience of sleeping in a tatami room.
First of all we went to have a communal bath (sexes separated) in the hotel bath room. The tradition of bathing and the bath tub are experiences I had read about and was keen to try. Firstly you have to clean yourself thoroughly, using a bowl and running water in a cubicle in the bathroom. You sit on a little plastic stool and fill up bowls of water and wash these over yourself. You work up a really good lather with the soap and rinse off. This is usually done with others sharing the same bathroom but we didn't see anyone else during our visit. Our room had 5 cubicles and a wooden sunken bath capable of taking 4 or 5 people at once. Julie's room was similarly equipped.
So washed ourselves down with the bowls of water and special soaps provided. Then we attempted to get into the water. Now are by now quite experienced hot tubbers, having taken every opportunity at hotels, to use their facilities especially after we had been skiing. But the temperature of this tub was at least 10 deg hotter than anything we had ever tried before. I was only able to lower myself in over a period of about 5 minutes. Julian could only put his legs in up to the knees. Sammy got in slowly, got out, poured cold water over himself, got back in, got back out, poured more cold water over himself then sat on the ground for about 10 minutes complaining of feeling sick and giddy. Not surprising really.
After our baths we prepared ourselves for of Japanese diner. We dressed in the robes provided by the inn.
We went for diner at 6 o'clock. The dining room comprised of about 8 rectangular tables that were no more than 20 inches off the ground. Cushions were provided for us to sit on the floor. Not being used to sitting like this, it would only take a minute or so before we felt uncomfortable so we did lots of squirming around during our meal.
The food was immaculately presented. Most of it was fish oriented and in all we probably had 12 or 13 dishes each. The problem was that most of them were quite difficult for the western pallet. I managed to try most things but we all really struggled. The boys thought they had made it when finally they brought some ice cream. However, it turned out to be green tea ice cream (a local delicacy) which was not nice, so after one spoonful it was left. It was actually quite embarrassing how much we left. But it wasn't possible to eat any more than we did.
After diner we went back to our room and it had been transformed into a bedroom with futons and duvets on the floor. We all slept soundly.
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