noplasticshowers

Topping the Arimasansoh stop is not easy, especially give the entirely different world that Kyoto represents.  One Japanese acquaintance called it “Disney without tickets,” which honestly seems pretty accurate.  And it was hot (seriously, 82 degrees one day and very humid).  And threatening rain but never quite getting around to it.  We expected Fall, so this was a bit of a surprise.

However, the rules state that you MUST go to Kyoto when you visit Japan.  So here we are.   Anyway, if you are going to spend some time in Kyoto, the Thousand is an excellent base of operations.

We said goodbye to Arima and its bridge(?!) and hopped in our comfortable hired car for a ride to Kyoto.

No really, this bridge is famous.

This was my view for the hour or so we drove out of the mountains and into the city.

And then, boom, we arrived at The Thousand to be greeted with a super efficient checkin system, our bags’ perfect timing on arrival (literally during our checkin), and a room ready WAY early.  Though we had requested a Japanese terrace suite on the 9th floor, we were assigned a western terrace suit on the 8th (room 801).  We decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth and go with the room that was ready.

Room 801 is modern, spacious, and really a beautiful place to camp out.  We unpacked and reacquainted ourselves with our long lost huge suitcases (by now filled with as much dirty stuff as clean).

The bedroom door to the suite is ingenious.  I want to copy it.

Both of those “walls” close with two doors that meet at 90 degrees.  Really clever pocket design.

But the terrace is the best part…  Overlooking the train station, and situated in the heat of Kyoto, you might think we would not use the terrace.  But we were out there a bunch.  Maybe we missed Arima.

We have not said much about Japanese toilets on this trip.  But they are still very ridiculous, with many little motors, automated systems, buit in sensors, little warm water squirters…and some rules.  There are lots of rules in Japan making things go smoothly…especially when it comes to toilets.

Part of the jet lag on return involves low-tech toilet adjustment.  WHAT?  I have to reach all the way down and move the toilet seat by hand?!  How primitive!  Then again, when the toilet is all by itself using the fax machine to send messages to its friends, you do wonder what it is thinking.

This is the control bar.  There are many different UI designs for this…all entirely different from one another.

Enough about toilets.  There was a matcha kit in the room too.  So we made matcha.

And we chilled on the patio.

Oh, almost forgot the main thing.  The shower is fantastic and has its own large room devoted to it with a built in bathtub that also serves as a bench.

Lets just say “optimal.”

So what to do on a so-called “rainy afternoon” in Kytoto before a very fancy dinner (if you are keeping track, that will make two incredible dinners in a row)?

Snag a cab over to Sanjūsangen-dō (“Lets Go!” said the very excited cab boy), and have him wait.  You can find this tree.  More bits here.

Then move on into the city to the Issey Miyake flagship temple.

Swing into town to do your duty as a tik-tok influencer at the hipster coffee house. Stop by and start the Hello Kitty quest.

And then return to base in time for a leisurely shower and a cab right to an incredible dinner at Pontocho Misoguigawa 禊川 and a rainy cocktail at K36.

It was a nice jolt back onto the tourist ride.

The next morning we hired an early cab to arrive precisely at 9am at Shōden-ji, doing our Bowie pilgrimage.  This was an excellent side trip.

And then right back into the heart of town and the human maelstrom at Kyoto City KYOCERA where the very popular Zen and Ghibli show was on.  It was a zoo. About the exact opposite of a Zen rock garden all by ourselves.

Which led to some Udon and a quick refactoring (and planned withdrawal) to chill on our terrace, cool off, and generally try to see only eachother for a while.

We dropped by Jazz Spot Yamatoya for an early cocktail before dinner.

And listened to some excellent jazz on vinyl.

Then cabbed to the top of the already “thickening” Pontocho Alley for a look at the restaurant scene turning on.  We stopped in for a bad drink and a great time at Stardust with a bunch of foreigners.

And then it was off on a leisurely stroll to tempura dinner at Gion Fuji.  Romey was a bit on the reluctant side at first, but dinner was light and delicious and only involved a few crazy things they wanted us to stick in our mouths.  The sake was particularly good.

From this…

To this…

Delish.

We returned to the hotel just in time for the lobby light show.

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Leaving only half a day in Kyoto the next morning before our trip back to Tokyo and eventually home.  We made an early morning expedition to Fushimi Inari Taisha and a nice Australian style brekkie at Vermillion (where we opened the place and secured a great table by the mosquito pond).

We caught a willing Uber back to The Thousand, showered, finished packing up our train bags, and it was back to Tokyo in time for afternoon tea.

Five showerheads for The Thousand even though they screwed up the room category on us.  They were gracious hosts in a beautiful modern place.