Camping tour 2016: Day eight (Saturday 9 July)

Today we toured Kyoto. We visited three big attractions, a place they make Japanese period dramas, an old castle, and the famous gold temple. 

It took us an hour and a half to drive into Kyoto. I confess to being a little travel weary! 

Additional to that we were up before five this morning because it rained all night and a puddle formed under our tent which started to come through our floor and wet our bedding. David worked hard to change a couple of things about the awning set up so the water drained away from the trouble spot and things started to resolve while we ate breakfast (standing up because our chairs were also damp). 

I'm typing now as we wait at another laundromat on our way home from Kyoto, we're drying some sheets and hoping that after the rain cleared around lunchtime the tent and rest of the bedding dried out. 

"Home" now and things are mostly dried out. We do have dry sheets and beds, so we're looking forward to a good night sleep. First is showers, though. I'll tell you about them tomorrow, but they're quite a trick: you pay by the five minute slot. 

Back to this morning, we first went to "Ega mura" literally "Movie Village". It was way overpriced in my opinion, but an interesting stop nonetheless. There were numerous actors walking around in costume and makeup and we saw a couple of short shows too. 

Then we grabbed lunch at a nearby convenience store and headed over to the Nijo Castle. It's an impressive Japanese castle built in the early 1600s by Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. It looks more like a palace than a castle, though.  

The luxurious space plus the beautiful art work on the walls and carving above doorways was wonderful. Much of the artwork seemed to be done by one family of brothers. We weren't allowed to take photos inside and as I had my big camera out I forgot to take phone photos except for this lookout photo. The grounds of the castle were also gorgeous. 

After that we drove to the Kinkaku Temple. A very famous image of Kyoto, if not Japan. 

We were joined in all this sightseeing by a friend and colleague of mine with the magazine I work with. She lives in Osaka, a Kansai local. It was great to spend the day with her. 

But now I'm tired. It's off to clean my teeth then drop into bed. There's no forecast of rain tomorrow, yay! Tomorrow is a travel-free day in which we'll laze around camp (paddling in the lake might be tempting if the temperature is as high as promised) and doing some more shopping and laundry.