Christensen Blog: Kyoto...Old Japan

Entering the Emperor's Palace with a tour

The Gardens

This was the only tour we took while on vacation. We had to get to the office first thing and make an appointment. You had to have your passports with you when you signed up. The tour guide had a most unusual English accent and this was the first time that we really saw a lot of tourists from other countries. We ate at McDonald's because it was close by the Palace. I don't eat McDonald's when home but it was nice to see those golden arches and we were hungry. Dallin was the tour guide for the day and he did a great job of organizing where we would go. We were pretty tired by the end of the day as we rode the train back to Osaka. We stopped at a little place on the way to the station where they had taco akie....octopus in a little ball of bread. We stopped by a bakery where a little old man was selling the last of the goods for that day. We were stopped by young students that wanted to practice their English on us. We saw girls dressed in the geisha clothes walking in that hot hot summer sun. It was pretty magical when you think about it...Japan in the storybooks.