When you're thirsty, drink Sweat!

We’ve been having trouble waking up as early as we’d like. Something to do with not having any immediate responsibilities. I realized that I haven’t had to prep for a class, or get ready for a meeting in almost a month, which has started making me lazy. I love it.

Anyway, we didn’t catch the Shinkansen bullet train to Kyoto as early as we would have liked, but it meant we had to rush to get things done. I ran to the neighborhood grocery store to pick up some snacks, and discovered that they also carried spare shirts, ties, and undergarments. For the time when, you know, you need eggs and milk and … a spare shirt. Although I guess if you think about it, isn’t that what a Wal-Mart superstore does?

I also discovered a gem at this grocery store – a great energy drink called … well, check it out.

I’ve taken enough marketing classes to know that this baby would have some trouble flying in the US.

The bullet train that runs up and down Japan acts more like the local subway train. It leaves every 5 minutes and takes you to every major stop along the way at breakneck speed. The whole thing is highly efficient, which just makes Amtrak and it’s troubles appear even more embarrassing.

Saeeda and I checked in to our hotel in Kyoto and established my theory as a fact. All bellhops in Japan are indeed female. Bizarre. I had that same attack of anxiety as this tiny lady grabbed our bags from us and hauled them to our room for us without even a moment's hesitation.

Our first tourist visit established that our Kyoto experience was going to be completely different from that of Tokyo. Kyoto has never been ravaged by natural disasters, nor was it a target of the WW II bombings that destroyed almost all of the other major Japanese cities. Therefore, the number of historical sites that exist in Kyoto is staggering. We only had time this first evening to visit one place, so we visited Nijo castle, which used to be the local shogun’s residence. Among beautiful gardens and halls were cool architectural features such as squeaking floorboards that had purposefully been installed that way so that no one would be able to sneak up on the shogun. I tried all my ninja skills in an attempt to see if I could walk across unannounced, but I had no luck. That shogun knew what he was doing.


We ended our first day in Kyoto by attending a traditional tea ceremony. The rituals were cool, but they had me wondering if anyone ever really enjoyed having tea this way. So many things to remember – how to hold something, how to say something, how to offer something. I’m usually one who wolfs down my food, so having to do everything slowly and properly was somewhat of a struggle.