Week 5 - Weekend in Kyoto

こんばんは。

One week since last message because lot of work and a great weekend in Kyoto! First to resume last week's school : Study, Test, Study, Test.......... Very busy but anyway new things in my Japanese life : a Phone & a Bank Account. Actually it isn't a Japanese phone but an iPhone. Yeah I know this is crazy but the Japanese phones that have the same options like WIFI, GPS and lot of applications are sooooo expensive! The iPhone was the best considering I can use Fring (free iPhone to iPhone calls), Skype & Whatsapp. Anyway if you want my Japanese number just send me a message ;)

Wednesday - Pottery time!
WoW this is hard. Pottery making is not an easy thing at least for a man like me. Even with my small hands and "my patience" I had hard times to do a big Japanese Tea Cup. Anyway I could bring something interesting to the Pottery-Master. This week we'll have to polish and light the Tea Cups to finally paint them in two weeks. I will post pictures of my Tea Cup on Wednesday or Thursday depending on my free time.

Weekend - KYOTO!　京都。
I love this city! Everyone who visited it does. We decided to go and visit Kyoto this weekend because the Sakura is coming (Sakura : Cherry Blossom). Sakura is one of the most important thing in Japan. It is sacred. Lot's of event are done during the Sakura time which is pretty small considering that if it rains the cherry trees will lose its petals in a few days but if the weather is fine it can last to 2 or 3 weeks some times. We decided to go to Kyoto the last weekend because this weekend we are heading to Noto Peninsula (North of Kanazawa) with the French students who arrived on monday. These students are from a Management School in Bretagne and are here for a few weeks to study Japanese.

This weekend was the first weekend of the Sakura. 25% of the Sakuras where open in Kyoto (Here in Kanazawa it is colder so it won't come until mid of April) so we could enjoy them at some places. We could find a small Hostel in Kyoto after making 25 calls. It was dormitories but the price was great and the location fine. To go to Kyoto we rented a car at a Mazda rent-a-car dealer (レンタカー : rentaka). I could use my translated driver's license because Japan didn't signed the same International convention as Swiss did so you need to get the license translated for 4000 Yen (40 CHF) at the Swiss Embassy of Tokyo. The price was also very good with everything included. Highway tolls in Japan are known to be expensive but if you travel on Weekends and with a ETC System (Electronic Toll Control) you can get a special price of 1000 Yen for any destination. Thanks to my host family to letting me use it ;)

Arriving in Kyoto we decided to go and visit one of the most visited spot in Japan : Kankokuji Temple (Gold Temple) which was pretty close to our Hotel. After that we headed to Kyomizu which is located in south Kyoto. I didn't went there during my two last Japanese trips so it was a very nice new experience. I liked it a lot. After the temple we wanted to go eat something out and enjoy a Good Karaoke in downtown Kyoto : Gion! We met a friend of Claudio in Kinkakuji who came with us to the restaurant and the karaoke! It was sooooo cool! We had lot of fun but that would mean a short night if we wanted to visit more of Kyoto on sunday...

Here are the pictures of Saturday in Kyoto!
Sunday, to be continued...