A Japanese cherry blossom cruise.

[drron29]

I have never seen as many women in Kimonos as this trip to Kyoto.Through the Torii gate and a festival is taking place.Plenty of food offerings.

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Past the first Torii gate there are many different shrines but also a couple of temples.Nothing to do with size.A shrine is a Shinto place entered through a tori gate with usually a pair of lions or dogs guarding the entrance and a place to purify by washing hands and mouth.A temple is a Buddhist place of worship with a Buddha and incense burning.So a few of the scenes once through that original tori gate-

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[drron29]

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There were some kimono wearers that had obviously hired them-

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Walking further you entered Muruyama gardens.Cherry blossoms plus crowds.

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[drron29]

Lots of food outlets.Some with very recognisable things-

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And some classic Japanese offerings!

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[drron29]

They were ready for even larger crowds at night-

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Here it seemed that cherry blossom viewing-hanami-was a good excuse for a good ole binge-

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But I went looking at the gardens-

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[drron29]

I love Japanese gardens.They don't rely just on colour for their beauty.Also the reverence they show for the older plants.In Australia that cherry tree would be chopped down as it is too old and getting diseased.Here they coddle it,supporting heavy limbs and wrapping parts to protect it

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The lamps in the trees are for night viewing of the blossoms.

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The last picture is one of the reasons I love coming to Japan.it is of grandparents with their granddaughters.Grandfather was taking the photo of the others.I offered to take all of them with their own camera.Much gratitude expressed.But then others came up asking if they could take the photo and they willingly obliged so I took my own shot.As I walked away then looked back they were still posing.Beautiful people.

There was even a small side show alley-

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[drron29]

I would heartily recommend a visit here if you are in Kyoto for cherry blossom time.Not only the blossom but interesting people watching.I now caught the train back to the hotel.Lots of worried commuters as it was 2 minutes late!The blossoms on the incline were now nearly at peak-

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[drron29]

Friday and we had brekkie in the lounge where we met an English couple who were going to be on our cruise.

We had scheduled a visit to Arashiyama today as the blossoms there usually a bit behind Kyoto.I had hoped to do the Romantic Steam train ride up the river valley and then come down the river on an old wooden boat they used for river transport 2 centuries ago.However it was raining.We put off leaving but the rain continued.Would have been spectacular if fine.Still huge crowds but not pleasant so a quick walk around the town and over the bridge which is the recccomended spot for cherry viewing-

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[drron29]

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[drron29]

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[drron29]

Now time to start the walk back to the train-

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[drron29]

Back at Kyoto station it was time for a late lunch.We went to a tonkatsu place on the top floor of Isetan.Mrsd had the straight tonkatsu and I what was described as tonkatsu on noodle soup with egg.

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Then through the shopping arcade where we passed a Laura Ashley store with a 4 letter sign outside. Wasn't going to be able to stop mrsdrron going in and picking up an item or 2.Also many examples of Jinglish.This a cosmetic store with a brand that probably wouldn't make it in Australia-

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Some shots from the shuttle of the riverside cherry trees-

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[drron29]

More of the riverside-

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[drron29]

back at the Westin the rain had eased to showers but the wind had strengthened.I decided to go for another walk but mrsdrron thought I was crazy.Didn'te to go far to see more blossoms-

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I was off to the Heian Jingu shrine.Quite a bit to see along the way-

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Turn the corner to the shrine and a very large tori gate-

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[drron29]

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[drron29]

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A very old cherry tree being well looked after-

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Wishes being displayed.Certainly complements the blossom at this time of year-

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[drron29]

The sky darkened and the wind started to roar as I began to doubt the wisdom of my walk.Fortunately that only lasted about 10 minutes so I walked home via the canal leading to the incline-

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[drron29]

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And now back to the incline where the blossom and photographers were in full bloom-

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[drron29]

So Saturday and we are off to Osaka to join the cruise group.In the morning we walked around the Westin's grounds-not too shabby-

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And their chapel-

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[drron29]

Mrsdrron went back to the room whilst I tackled the hotel's wild bird trail.This was set aside in 1890.We westerner's thought we were so good setting up National Parks but here was a hotel in Japan doing it's own bit.Also in the 800's the Emperor in Nara set aside a forest to be free from hunting and logging to protect wild animals and plants.So another pictorial-

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[drron29]

Finally reached the top of the hill.You could see the canal from Lake Biwa and the top of the Keage incline-

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[drron29]

We now got the shuttle down to Kyoto station and caught a standing room only JR rapid service to Osaka-we actually got the last 2 seats.Now a bit of advice.We forwarded our large bags on to the hotel in Osaka-officially takuhaibin but known by the original trademark-takkyubin.It would have been really uncomfortable with all our luggage on this train.Even on most shinkansen large bags can be difficult to travel with.Usually costs ~ $30 but well worth it.

This also enabled us to have lunch when we arrived at Osaka station.Went to the top floor of Daimaru and a small family restaurant.Mrsdrron had the suikiyaki set and I a pork paper bowl set with broiled salmon.We both enjoyed our meal.

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Then went to where the Imperial Hotel shuttle stop was and one was just about to leave.They had bought the cherry blossom inside-

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[drron29]

Checked in and collected our bags.Got a room with a decent view-

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Unpacked and went for a walk in the riverside park.Sakura were in full bloom and the hanami parties were in full swing.

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[drron29]

All sorts of vessels were on the water for blossom viewing-

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[drron29]

Back to the blossoms-

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[drron29]

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