Odawara and on to Kyoto

Jim's business meetings were held in Odawara next to the town of Oiso where our hotel was located. I explored Odawara during his last day of meetings. This restaurant caught my eye.

I toured the huge shopping mall (on the right in the picture below). I also caught a glimpse of Mt. Fuji which you may or may not be able to see rising above the distant mountain in the center of this photo--a rare occasion this time of year. By the time the meetings were over just an hour later, it was no longer visible and no one believed that I had actually even seen it!

Later in the day, Jim and I took a train to Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan, for the vacation leg of our journey.

We arrived at the modern train station pictured above and checked into the Hyatt hotel, our luxurious accommodations for the night.

We immediately set out to explore the area taking advantage of the couple of hours of daylight left to us. First stop was Sanjusangen-do temple where the 1001 statues of the Buddhist deity are housed. The statues were made in the 12th and 13th century. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to photograph the statues.

The gardens were beautiful.

Afterward, our search for dinner brought us to a Japanese style fast food restaurant offering noodle bowls. Amazingly enough they even offered super-sized versions! Not necessarily impressed with our meal but satisfied, we continued our exploration. We saw this tower in the distance and curiously made our way to it. It cost too much to take the ride to the top and so we satisfied ourselves with shopping in the shops at the base. We bought a cake and wound our way back to the hotel to celebrate the eve of my birthday and 30 years of marriage.