October 3, 2024
We had to change our plan for the day. We had planned a day just poking around in this fishing village of Kii katsura before heading off to Kyoto tomorrow, but it was raining hard, and looked like the rain might last all day. We packed things up with all the layers of rain protection possible and headed to the bus stop. Fortunately, the buses in Japan are very timely and we stood there for only about 3-4 minutes, heading the short distance down to Kii katsura.
We decidied to look for a place to eat. Maybe the heavy rain would blow over a bit.
We were the only two people in this little restaurant at 7:30 am. It seemed that the town had not woken up yet, but we were thankful for this refuge from the rain. We had their standard breakfast for 700 Yen, less than $5.
Now our plan was to head to Kyoto today, and to spend the rain day in the train. We were able to get an express train to Kii Tanabe where we could pick up our suitacases. We had to store them there at the beginning of the Kumano. It also required rearranging everything including the backpacks inside of the suitcases. With everything in place and a little more cash in our pockets from the ATM, we bouught express tickets to Osaka and then on to Kyoto.
The train to Osaka was uneventful and I snoozed quite a bit. We were hungry though at 1:50 pm when our train pulled in , and only had 12 minutes until the next train left to Kyoto. Alice knows the station well and quickly ran up to the 7-11 to get some lunch just in time before our train arrived
The next leg of our trip to Kyoto was uneventful and direct, only 30 minutes. We grabbed our bags and walked through the enormous train station for what seemed like 10-15 minutes before emerging onto the gray drizzly street. Our hotel was only one block away, so we could easily walk there.
The hotel has an odd and exaggerated sense of Halloween and robotic automation. There were two robotic dinosaurs at the front desk and we did our check-in by scanniing our passports and following the computer prompts.
Because we’d asked for another day and there were not any “regular”rooms available, we received a kids themed room
After we rearranged out gear, figured ot what was wet , and took a rest, it was time to head out to the town.
There was a public piano in the train station for people to play on, and as we arrived we heard a concert – level pianist playing. We listened and then greeted her afterwards. Loetsu is my best Anglicization attempt of her name. She is from Taiwan.,
We’d had a enough checking out the train station, and headed into a neighborhood with a lot of restaurants, and found one western-themed place with great food and moderated prices. We had pasta, salad , Spanish and Italian
red wine and dessert of Tiramisu and Basque cheesecake. Are we in Japan, I couldn’t help wonder?
Our stomachs filled and curiosity satisfied, we returned to our hotel.
For veteran travelers like you, rain becomes a feature of the day, not an obstacle.