Upon Arrival...

Arrival in Osaka-Kansai!!! I was so excited to see Chris!!! Chris met me in Osaka and we first changed my money and  journeyed by train to Kyoto. It is about a two hour ride. Chris bought himself and me a train ticket and reserved the first class seating for us.

Fortunately Chris let me sit by the window!!!!

I was starting to feel a bit weary by then and we still had a 20 minute to the Kyoto Guest Inn, which is located about 20 minutes from the station. We had to pull the luggage there but managed to survive. We passed by Chris' dorm building but he would not let me go in. He said he was too ashamed of the mess. I had assured him I would help clean up his room, just as I had in Gakugei. That time, it took about 2 hours to clean and was really vile. Lots of trash, and even some rotting food in the fridge he forgot about! But alas, we will save the cleaning for another day.

After checking in at the hotel, And after Christopher served as translator for a non English speaking inn keepers and another guest, we made it to the room!! I scored... this room is sooooo cute. They gave me the corner room facing front on the second floor.. It's a traditional Japanese room in that the bed is a futon on the floor... but not so traditional that I don't have my own bathroom. (like you would in a royokan.)

I would have been content to stay in and go right to sleep. but Chris would have none of it. Relieved of my bags, it was a little easier to walk around.

Then Christopher forced me to go back out for sushi... He said it would be worth it and it was! I was okay... I got my second wind and we proceeded to have a fabulous dinner for two... for only $22 US! Each plate of sushi was less than 100 yen, maybe .95 cents US. We also got Japanese lemon sours.... something we had enjoyed in Tokyo with Kyle. So we ordered those for old times sake.

On the way back, We stopped at a little shop, which  had some vintage silk kimono for sale. I bought a beautiful black one  for only $20 US ...she said it was 50 years old and had never been used. Chris helped her translate. Handmade and probably in someone's trunk all these years...I know she was telling me the truth because there was seamstress stitching on it that had to be removed.

Here we are at the Sushi Ro. You order via a touch screen and then your order is delivered via the kaiten (conveyor) with a little bell when it gets nearby and it's ready for you to grab.

Once we got back to the station and then walked back to the hotel and I got to bed it was nearly midnight. My Hawaii set watch read 4.a.m. Chris had said "Mom, you can recover later, just live a little. Thanks Chris!'