Takadanobaba Station in Alameda

Today, September 2, we said goodbye to Kyoto. We saw a lot, but there’s still more left unexplored. Good reason to return. 😉 Our agenda: traveling by train north and east to a ryokan near Mt. Zao. A ryokan is a traditional Japanese inn. We took two trains to Yamagata, the closest station to Mt. Zao. This was the third and fourth ride on the Shinkansen. The adventure started when we grabbed the Nozomi Shinkansen in Kyoto, destined for Tokyo. This train ran on the Tokaido line, the first bullet train line in Japan. Our train. Nozomi 306, departing Kyoto at 8:36 AM  We got seats in the green car. That’s first class. Very nice. The Shinkansen provides free Wi-Fi. It’s good quality. Screenshot from connecting to the train wi-fi. The service was good, not great. As luck would have it, our seats were on the left side of the car, as we headed toward Tokyo.  That meant we would get a view of Japan’s famous Mt. Fujiyama. According to Wikipedia , Mt. Fuji is one of Japan’s three sacred ...

AMAZING!! That isn't an adequate adjective to describe the Kyoto Railway Museum. It is the best that I have visited. Nothing in the U.S. compares.  Kyoto has an enormous collection of locomotives and rolling stock — all in immaculate condition. The breadth of the museum's displays is outstanding. It goes way beyond a bunch of pretty trains in a building.  We visited for an afternoon. I could easily spend a day and a half here. One reason I would not stay longer is that the display placards are in Japanese. Its a lot of work to try to translate each one using Google translate. Taking pictures of signs and translating isn't a strong point of that app. Next time, I’ll try Photo Translate. Of course, we took the train to the museum. As we did yesterday, we took the Kyoto subway Tozai line west from our hotel to Nijo. Instead of taking the JR West train toward Saga Arashiyama, we took it the other way. Two stops to the station right outside the museum gates Umekōji-Kyōtonishi....

We spent Thursday, Aug. 31 and Friday in Kyoto.   On Thursday, we headed to Saga Arashiyama. Our destinations included the Bamboo forest, the Tenryuji Temple and garden and Jōjakkōji Temple. It was shaping up to be another hot day. That likely meant we would be limited in what we might have energy to see.  I noticed on Google maps (this was an indispensable tool on the trip) that JR West had a station at our destination. Co-incidentally the Kyoto Subway’s Tozai line, it stopped right outside our hotel, had a connecting stop at Nijo. It was six stops away. We loaded our backpacks with water, towels and other necessities and headed out.  The Nijo JR station seemed to be new. It had an interesting wooden shelter over the platform. Walking toward the platform shelter, trying to get out of the sun.  Spectacular truss work under the platform roof. Note the vending machine in the lower right. They’re all over the place.  The ride to Saga Arashiyama was just three ...