Upon arrival at Kyoto station I was a bit disappointed. It reminded me of
GCT in Manhattan and although a modern city is exciting - it is certainly not what I had expected. I stepped off the train, bought a bottle of green tea and pulled out my map to find the charming city that was presently not in site. My mental image of Kyoto was a place with temples, and gardens - the old capital of Japan and if this was the best preserved city in Japan -- I needed to go find it. I jumped on the subway and imagine I caught more than a few peoples attention with my struggle with the subway ticket machine and and over sized backpack and off to
Higashiyama , the eastern mountain district . I came out of the terminal and as I ascended the hill - there was the city I had in my mind perched up on the mountain. The best way to describe it is if someone hit pause on the architecture from the 8th century and everything else evolved as one might expect. I slowly got used to seeing modern life in a timeless setting and as I sat in the coffee shop peering out the window - I tried my best to wrap my mind around what my senses were experiencing. I think these few and fleeting moments is why I came to Japan.
Upon arrival at Kyoto station I was a bit disappointed. It reminded me of GCT in Manhattan and although a modern city is exciting - it is certainly not what I had expected. I stepped off the train, bought a bottle of green tea and pulled out my map to find the charming city that was presently not in site. My mental image of Kyoto was a place with temples, and gardens - the old capital of Japan and if this was the best preserved city in Japan -- I needed to go find it. I jumped on the subway and imagine I caught more than a few peoples attention with my struggle with the subway ticket machine and and over sized backpack and off to Higashiyama , the eastern mountain district . I came out of the terminal and as I ascended the hill - there was the city I had in my mind perched up on the mountain. The best way to describe it is if someone hit pause on the architecture from the 8th century and everything else evolved as one might expect. I slowly got used to seeing modern life in a timeless setting and as I sat in the coffee shop peering out the window - I tried my best to wrap my mind around what my senses were experiencing. I think these few and fleeting moments is why I came to Japan.
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