Wednesday morning we decided to take things at a slow pace. We had the Shinkansen (bullet train) booked for 11am going to Kyoto, so we had breakfast and some downtime in the room. It was a rainy day so we were thankful that today was a travel day! We actually went down to the gym and each did a bit of cardio, I always made fun of people that worked out on vacation but it actually really helped me feel normal to do a workout after so many days off (I mean we were walking like 6 miles a day but still it's not the same as getting a sweat on!). We packed up and made our way to our Shinkansen platform.
The bullet train was very smooth, I was worried about motion sickness but it was not an issue. We got to Kyoto and took a short taxi ride to our Ryokan. This is a special kind of hotel where you get meals served in your room in traditional Japanese style, a private bath outside your room, very peaceful experience. I had been looking forward to this after the busyness of our time in Tokyo and it did not disappoint! When we got there it was too early to check in so we dropped our bags and went for a walk over to Monkey park. This was a long climb up (and it was quite a bit hotter in Kyoto than it had been in Tokyo that morning so we were quite hot with our pants instead of shorts!) but it was an amazing view and so fun to see all the monkeys wandering around. So strange that they were just milling about around the tourists, they wanted you to stay 2 meters away from them but they kind of just invaded your space sometimes lol. We made our way back down and headed back to the Ryokan to check in. We got tea served in our room right away which was so fun. It took me a minute to settle in and relax but once I did, it was heavenly!
We got in the tub once before dinner and that really helped me relax. The dinner experience was extraordinary. She came in with each course about 10 minutes apart, and the food was really good! Such a cool experience. Our legs got super tired trying to sit cross legged, we were not able to keep that up and had to change positions many times. After dinner, she came back and set up our bed which was not really much better than a camping mattress set up. We got back in the tub and enjoyed the peaceful evening, the air was so still it felt very surreal. It was a wonderful, relaxing day!
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