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As my trip was approaching its end, and the day was beautiful, I decided to spend some time wandering the northern reaches of Gion. In particular, the triangle lined by Shinbashi-dori, Shirakawa Minami-dori and Yamato Oji-dori was an area I remembered from my previous trip as being worth a repeat visit. I'm sure I could spend a long time trying to capture the atmosphere of those few blocks, as each season, time of day, and weather condition paints it in a completely different but equally fascinating light.
I made my way to Sanjo station, and enjoyed the Kamogawa in the morning for a few moments; the statue of Izumo no Okuni near the Minamiza theater was greeting the morning sun rather spectacularly, and Kyotoites were engaging in all kind of morning sports under the cherry blossoms. I then left the river behind and headed east to my original destination.
This northern part of Gion is a lot more quiet than the main roads, although it does get mobbed every so often with tour groups, domestic and foreign. Still, it has locals walking their dogs, and cabbies picking up and dropping off Maiko and perhaps even Geiko from the surrounding houses interspersed by moments of quiet and a local resident making his or her way to the small shrine at the intersection for a prayer.
Eventually the day started to get warmer, the lulls between hordes of tourists got shorter, and I decided to move on. I made my way back to Kyoto station, and to the Umekoji steam locomotive museum. It's nestled among railroad tracks near Kyoto station, but annoyingly difficult to reach. The route I took wound through Umekoji park, a green area much more geared towards ordinary locals and families than the parks tourists usually see. On the way I also encountered a neat bicycle rental place, the Kyoto Cycling Tour Project; aside from the awesome Maiko wheelie logo it was staffed by very personable young people and left quite a good impression. I'll definitely look them up if I ever go back and decide on a bike.
The museum consists of an old station house, quite pretty in its own right, and a maintenance yard with a turntable housing the steam engines. It's actually still somewhat operational, as a few of the bays were not accessible and used to maintain the still running trains used for tourist trips. If you're interested in steam engines, it's a bit of fun, but otherwise it's a good walk from the nearest transportation and can be overrun by unruly children.
After a brief rest and dinner, I headed to Osaka to visit Yodobashi camera, a truly huge multimedia store and by far the largest camera emporium I've ever seen. The main reason for my trip, however, was to catch the Dotonbori area at night and snap a few pictures of its famous neon signs and nightlife.
The fashion was pretty neat, and people definitely were going all out in trying to push boundaries and figure out what worked and what didn't. Aside from the eye-candy and pretty lights, though, the entertainment venues didn't offer me much of interest, and I settled for wandering the streets for a few hours, and headed back to Kyoto to catch some sleep in anticipation of my final full day.
Gallery and slideshow are up, as usual.
I've received almost no feedback beyond "Your pictures are cool," and I'm curious — compared to the photos available in the gallery, am I picking shots that are of interest to you, and is my travelogue satisfying your curiosity, or would you like more or less details? Don't feel afraid to comment or send feedback about what you like and what you don't.
I made my way to Sanjo station, and enjoyed the Kamogawa in the morning for a few moments; the statue of Izumo no Okuni near the Minamiza theater was greeting the morning sun rather spectacularly, and Kyotoites were engaging in all kind of morning sports under the cherry blossoms. I then left the river behind and headed east to my original destination.
This northern part of Gion is a lot more quiet than the main roads, although it does get mobbed every so often with tour groups, domestic and foreign. Still, it has locals walking their dogs, and cabbies picking up and dropping off Maiko and perhaps even Geiko from the surrounding houses interspersed by moments of quiet and a local resident making his or her way to the small shrine at the intersection for a prayer.
Eventually the day started to get warmer, the lulls between hordes of tourists got shorter, and I decided to move on. I made my way back to Kyoto station, and to the Umekoji steam locomotive museum. It's nestled among railroad tracks near Kyoto station, but annoyingly difficult to reach. The route I took wound through Umekoji park, a green area much more geared towards ordinary locals and families than the parks tourists usually see. On the way I also encountered a neat bicycle rental place, the Kyoto Cycling Tour Project; aside from the awesome Maiko wheelie logo it was staffed by very personable young people and left quite a good impression. I'll definitely look them up if I ever go back and decide on a bike.
The museum consists of an old station house, quite pretty in its own right, and a maintenance yard with a turntable housing the steam engines. It's actually still somewhat operational, as a few of the bays were not accessible and used to maintain the still running trains used for tourist trips. If you're interested in steam engines, it's a bit of fun, but otherwise it's a good walk from the nearest transportation and can be overrun by unruly children.
After a brief rest and dinner, I headed to Osaka to visit Yodobashi camera, a truly huge multimedia store and by far the largest camera emporium I've ever seen. The main reason for my trip, however, was to catch the Dotonbori area at night and snap a few pictures of its famous neon signs and nightlife.
The fashion was pretty neat, and people definitely were going all out in trying to push boundaries and figure out what worked and what didn't. Aside from the eye-candy and pretty lights, though, the entertainment venues didn't offer me much of interest, and I settled for wandering the streets for a few hours, and headed back to Kyoto to catch some sleep in anticipation of my final full day.
Gallery and slideshow are up, as usual.
I've received almost no feedback beyond "Your pictures are cool," and I'm curious — compared to the photos available in the gallery, am I picking shots that are of interest to you, and is my travelogue satisfying your curiosity, or would you like more or less details? Don't feel afraid to comment or send feedback about what you like and what you don't.
