Day 9 - Back to Tourism

This morning Lisa took advantage of the outdoor public onsen (hot spring bath) beside the waterfalls. Joyous! Jon had another go at the private bath in our room. We are going to miss this ryokan and hope to return for a longer visit someday. 

The tour finished after another “traditional” breakfast (fish, rice with toppings , pickled vegetables, miso soup, etc.). Our whole tour group caught the local train to Takihashi station. John, our tour leader, assisted everyone with their shinkansen tickets. We were all on the same train but departed at different stops. We exchanged contact information with everyone and are planning a trip to New Zealand!

Our Shinkansen trip took a little over an hour traveling at 150-200 mph and making four stops. It was fantastic and we enjoyed icybento of inari tofu, salmon tempura sushi, etc. It comes in a cute convenient box perfect for train travel.

Kyoto station is overwhelming after 6 days in rural Japan. We agreed that our walking tour was a vacation and now we're back to being tourists. Therefore, the crowds and chaos of Kyoto central station was a lot to take in.

Our hotel is, thankfully, down a quiet side street close to Higashi Hongan-ji Temple. It's an apartment style hotel with a kitchen and washing machine in the unit. It'll be a good home vase for a few days. We took it easy after visiting Higashi Hongan-ji’s garden, walking around the neighborhood, visiting the Kyoto Tower Food Hall, and enjoying a ramen with gyoza dinner. We're going to bed early tonight as tomorrow promises to be hectic.

A quick reminder that we cannot get text messages to our phones but are available on WhatsApp or via email. 

Which eki bento box would you choose - just from the picture?