False Advertising in Kyoto

We're having a great time with Mom so far. Mom, Noodle, Dillon and I went to Hakone last Monday and rode 2 Gondolas, ate some black hard-boiled eggs, cooked in the sulfur springs, took a pirate-ship ride on a big-ole-boat on Lake Ashino and then had a Japanese lunch, which Mom and Noodle were less than impressed with. And D'’s gratin had whole baby fish. Heads and all. Before I realized this, I was planning on sharing with him. Ick. But he ate it anyway, because fish brains and eyeballs don'’t bother him as much as I. On the way home, we stopped at the Glass Museum, which at first seemed like a bust, but ended up being really cool. It was in a building that looked like a castle and we want to move there. You are invited to visit whenever you want. AND, they had a tree there, the trunk of which was made out of silver wire, the leaves of crystal. They shimmered in the sun and we were mesmerized. We didn'’t want to leave.– You know how we like sparkly things..

And then Tuesday we (me, Mom and Noodle) left on the Bullet Train for a girls get-away in Kyoto. That afternoon, we walked around the Gion District, where the few remaining Geisha live. We didn'’t see any. But the row houses were fascinating. They were made all of wood and sat, literally, 6 inches off the narrow streets. We also visited the Food Market and sampled lots of "“weird stuff"”. We bought some pickled cucumber, but then forgot it in our hotel fridge. Bummer.

Mom says our hotel beds were for midgets, but thinks that might not be very nice. So, "“Dwarfs"”, she says instead. (Rolling on the floor, laughing out loud, I am!) And our pillows were made of beans. They sucked and our necks are sore.

Wednesday, we took a 10-hour tour of Kyoto and Nara. We were so wiped out that we fell asleep at 8pm last night (despite the midget-beds and crunchy-pillows). Kyoto talks it up big about their stuff being really old, but it turns out, its really not that old, after the countless fires and rebuilding of the city. For example, the big Buddha at Nara -– his legs are 1200 years old, but then there was a fire and most of his body melted. So 800 years ago, they recast his body and head. Then, there was another fire, and his head melted off. So they remade it out of wood. Then, the wood rotted and his head fell off again. Apparently, they didn'’t have any money, so he sat outside, headless, for 400 years until they could recast his head out of bronze. His head is ONLY 300 years old. We were not so impressed.

Also, Mom walked in on 2 Japanese men standing at urinals. She was not so impressed.

Then our train didn't leave until 3:30 this afternoon so we had some time to mosey around a bit more. We checked out a temple (Which, of course, wasn'’t as old as they'’re spouting off either -– it was barely 100 years old, after the fires and all. Big deal. Mom grew up in a house older than THAT!!!) and then we walked through a beautiful, tiny garden, tucked away behind a stone wall, about 5 blocks from Kyoto Station. Then we stopped for a Starbucks and a quick stroll through the Gap before heading back home, again on the Bullet Train (which, by the way, is really cool!).

Now it'’s 10:38 Thursday night, and time for bed. We posted a new album of our visit. Check it out if you want.