Travel Eat Drink Like a Local

Days 8, 9, 10: Ginza | Kabuki | Tsukiji Market | Buddhist Hall | Asakusa | Senso-ji  From Kyoto back to Tokyo we took the beautiful N700 Nozomi aka “Wish” the fastest shinkensen, the bullet train. Covers about 450 km in two hours and twenty minutes. Little pleasures of train travel in Japan. High quality age old traditional confectionery and Hot-Cold Vending Machine Tea/Coffee with Lotus Root Chips, only in Japan. So good! Lotus Roots to die for! Upon arriving in Tokyo we went to Sagawa luggage counter of Tokyo Station (near the Nihonbashi Exit) and send luggage to the hotel. 2000 Yen /piece. We were craving Rice and Curry and walked to a Sri Lankan restaurant Kandy near Tokyo Station. Their offering was extremely limited and the place was deserted. We let go of that idea and took the metro to Ginza near the hotel. Ginza is the trendy hot spot of Japan. Once again, our hotel, Solaria Nishitetsu Hotel Ginza was chosen to ensure proximity to all main public ...

Day 5: Arrive in Kyoto | Nishiki Market | Kinkaku-ji | Pontocho Alley | Gion In the morning of day five we took a local train from Hakone-Yamoto Station to Odawara Station to catch the Hikari Shinkensen (Bullet Train) that would take us to Kyoto. About 250 miles covered in 2 hours. Kyoto Shinkensen station is like an airport. We used the luggage forwarding service at the station to send our luggage to the hotel and ventured out to explore. From Kyoto Station took Karasuma Line to Shijo Station then walked a little to Nishiki Market for lunch.  Nishiki Market Chestnuts These outfits are so pretty! How did they get that quail egg inside the tiny octopus 🐙 🤭? All we know now is it tastes soooo good! Wagyu Beef Skewers Salted grilled and filled with roe We walked to our hotel, The Royal Park Kyoto Shijo  to check-in. There's no better location than this to be a walking tourist or one who will be using public transportation. In Kyoto,...