Day 6

Sitting in the Orbite Bar of the swank hotel in Kyoto Station thinking about my day. Mentally, it's been a bit odd today. My first solo day, no real contact with anyone other than the strangers sharing my room. My inability to communicate, other than excuse me and thank you, is a bit frustrating. I need a phrase book pronto, and I definitely need one for China, for i know even less of that language. Physically, my head cold is lingering, as well as my cough. Maybe the fact that I walked around for two days in Tokyo rain without proper gear has something to do with that. I did finally procure a coat yesterday, so today it was bright and sunny.
It was a beautifull day in fact, which I started a little later then planned; but hey, you've gotta sleep sometime. Spent a few hours at the manga museum, which was a good experience. There was a whole group of cosplayers in the building, but I didn't work up the nerve to ask to take pictures. Payed a little extra to see the Saibara Rieko display, which i enjoyed. There was also a room for sci-fi based comics, so i was in heaven there, with it's spotlight on Valerian and a whole slew of French based comics (Delcourt, Humanoid, Dargaud, Glenat, Dupois).
then it was off to walk the Imperial Palace grounds, which were quite lovely, and too massive for me to see on a limited time frame. As i was walking back on my way to the shooping district, i was passed by a large motorcade of police and black cars, and i was waved at by this fellow.
In the hopes of finding said phrase books, i hit the Teramachi Shopping Arcade, which is a good sized outdoor shopping area. I never did find the english language bookstore supposedly located there, and no one i asked seemed to have heard of it. I did, however, find Ninja Kyoto, and i hope to locate a branch in Osaka, where i am off to tomorrow.
All in all, i think i like Kyoto, even if i can't figure out the intricacies of bikes on sidewalks and where the pedestrians are supposed to be in relation to them. Ah, well, such is life.

Comments

Popular Posts