Kyoto

I think as soon as the United States gets high-speed rail, we will all whoop and cheer when the first train flies past us clocking about 200 miles per hour.
That was our reaction yesterday (or I should say today for those of you in the Western Hemisphere) when most of us saw our first bullet train, and said train did come whizzing by about as fast. It's heart-rendering!



Kyoto was a trek; gorgeous as can be. We wandered through the sacred grounds of the Yasaka Shrine and the Kiyomizudera Temple all connected by a network of greenspace and busy walking street shops.



The temple was high on the hills overlooking Kyoto as well as this cemetery filled with thousands of headstones. I cannot take enough photos to allow you to comprehend the shear number of burial plots in this single area. It took my breath away immediately as I came upon it.



Afterwards, it's noodles at Tagoto Noodle Shop in this particularly awesome shopping arcade.

It had a pachinko parlor. I have to play just one of those machines, if only to come away with a pachinko ticket as a souvenir!