Took the Shinkansen to Kyoto. The trip was fine, and at an OK pace. It was almost a 2:40 ride.

Kyoto is beautiful. The weather has been better then expected. Leon is complaining that I don’t write about him. So there. Leon has been a very good sport. His feet have been bothering him. We checked into the hotel, which is right above the JR station. It’s the Hotel Granvia Kyoto. Very cool place. I’m not sure if it’s the standard line, but as with our main hotel, it seems that the rooms are “full” and we got an upgrade. However, this time, it seems accurate, as we are again on the top floor. It IS extra for the top floor, so yay! The view is awesome from here too.

We saw two shrines today. They were both very exquisite. The architecture is most interesting to me, and it’s definitely a good contrast to the urban city of Tokyo and Kyoto. We ran into these kids when going to the second shrine / temple, and they were adorable. They asked us if we spoke English, they told us their names, and asked us ours. They then asked if we were enjoying Japan, and where we were from. Everyone is very friendly here.

The buses, on the other hand, were not fun. They are backwards - you enter in the rear, and exit in the front. You also pay when you leave, instead of when you board. This leads to quite a bit of foot traffic through the middle of the bus. The bus is also skinnier then a US bus, so this is not a matter to be taken lightly.

I have officially run out of money. I got some gifts, but not for everyone.

went to anoter katsu place for dinner. not as good as first. different sacues then usual, which made for an intersting mea. Had sake. Matt is happy. Leon is unnfacted. Had moch and parfait for dssert. bck in hotel roomj. Not ewatching as I type, this is bound to have lots of mistakes. Ha ha ha.

Kyoto seems like a place to come back to, and have Tokyo be a satellite trip, instead of the other way around. This is not to mean that Tokyo is not worthy of a second trip - the next time we should come for like two weeks, and allow time for both.

Everyone is very nice in Kyoto, and we had a very warm welcome here. We seem to stand out a little bit more then in Tokyo, but that’s not to say we are the only foreigners here.

It’s almost 10 PM, time to get ready for bed.

Money: 0.

The Leica: Metering still sucks. I tend to see how it meters it and if I know it’s going to be wrong, I take a guess at the correct shutter speed, test, and take another if necessary. I like on the Canon and even Nikons for that matter you can specify where you want the metering to be from - a spot, center average, or multi-point. Leica is center only, and it’s not that great in my experience.