KYOTO

Holy shit, I was lucky enough to be in Japan when the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. Man was I lucky. Timothy and I caught the train to Kyoto on a Saturday afternoon after a sushi breakfast at the fish market in Tokyo. When we got to Kyoto it was rainy, and apparently we got the last two empty beds in town at a youth hostel. Kyoto is one of Japans most traditional cities, and a very popular destination when the cherry blossoms are in bloom, so finding a place to stay was tough. The youth hostel kind of sucked, it had a 10:30 curfew so we sat across the street outside of a Lawson convenient store and drank beers until we had to be back inside.

The next day was amazing. We explored Kyoto by foot, first walking over to an old temple, and then hiking up a path to this park on a hilltop where there was a garden full of cherry blossom trees and sweeping views of the city below. After that we hiked back down to the city and found the Philosopher's Trail, a cherry blossom lined path that runs along a little stream. There were tons of people there. We got some sake from a vending machine and drank under the shade of the trees. Next, we caught a train across town to this island in a river where we had a traditional Japanese dinner, or more of a late lunch. After that we jumped back on the train to our next destination. Kyoto was amazing.