hello tokyo bye bye osaka

Day 11: Kyoto - Toji Temple - Kyoto Costume Museum - Nijo Castle - Kyoto International Manga Museum - Kinkaku-ji (the Gold Pavilion) - Osaka

Typical things you'll see when you first arrive at Kyoto Station are The Cube, Isetan department store, Kyoto Tower and signage that tells you this is the home of Astroboy.

There's no doubt that Kyoto is the city of temples. With so many temples and museums scattered around the city, the best way to reach them was via the Kyoto City Bus. 

Our first stop was the Toji Temple. This 5 storey pagoda temple is the tallest wooden tower in Japan hence why it was on our shortlist. It was beautiful to see it framed by cherry blossoms. We didn't stay long here and decided to find our next destination, the Kyoto Costume Museum.

For some reason, I was expecting the Kyoto Costume Museum to be a museum with all these fabulous haute couture gowns by famous fashion designers. Boy, was I wrong! It actually turned out to be a scale model of a part of a mansion where a nobleman Genji lived. 

My friend had a real good laugh at me here. I had talked it up so much that even she became slightly interested in attending this museum. (Note: if you didn't pick it up already my friend is not a big fan of museums) In hindsight, I had mistaken it for the Kyoto Costume Institute - the one I was suppose to go to!

Next on the list was the Kyoto International Manga Museum and we decided to do the Nijo Castle because it was on the way. I didn't really have any expectations going to this manga museum, but when I got there, it felt more like a manga library. The english manga section was very limited but if you can read japanese you'd probably feel like you're in manga heaven as it was literally floor to ceiling of all different kinds of manga books. There were a few exhibitions on, but nothing overwelming. After leaving this musuem, a part of me wish that I had gone to see Astroboy at the Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum instead. 

The Gold Pavilion (Kinkaku-ji) which is probably the most popular temple in Kyoto was our last stop for the day. We travelled so far on the bus to get there and we ended up staying there very briefly. It would have been nice to explore more of the temple grounds but we had both reached our limit. Our hectic schedule had really taken it's toll on us here.

As we left Kyoto and bullet it back to Osaka, I was feeling guttered. I had just discovered my 3 day kansai pass, which I'd bought that morning was missing and also that I hadn't really enjoyed Kyoto as much as I would of liked. There were still so many things I was hoping to do like try their famous green tea ice-cream, walk the streets of Gion at night and see the iconic Fushimi Inari Taisha.

Coming back to Osaka was like coming back to an old friend, I could feel my spirits lifted after the disappointing and tiring day in Kyoto. That night for dinner, we decided to give Osaka's famous okonomiyaki (a pancake-like dish) a go. When there's a line up at a restaurant, it's always a good sign that the okonomiyaki there must be good. The okonomiyaki I ordered had prawns and noodles in it. The first two slices we tucked into tasted really good, but as my friend pointed out, by the time you go in for the third and fourth slices, the taste just wasn't as good as the first two. Nonetheless, it was an interesting meal that I would probably share the next time I have it.