Tuesday:
We met up with the girls for the last time to say goodbye. After exchanging gifts at the platform it was quite sad leaving as they waved goodbye to us on the platform. Train Journey was Nagasaki - Hakata - shinOsaka - Kyoto and took about 6 hours. We arrive at Kyoto, the train station was just as busy as any other city station we had encountered and multistory. We where getting used to navigating these micro-cities and where able to find the touris information office in about 15 minutes and we arranged 3 nights accomodation (this was more expensive than Nagasaki, Jo was not happy about the cost, but I had anticipated it would be more and it was within budget). The ryokan is only accross the road from the tourist information office and we are pointed in its direction. The staff here are friendly and this is more like a hotel than our previous ryokan experience. It must be at least 3* accomodation but to save a few yen we opt to share washing and toilet facilities. After a quick settle into the room we decide to do some sightseeing, in the dark. After a four mile walk (it felt like more) we found a traditional noodle bar to sit at and eat (everything has meat in it so Jo eats rice and my rice). After eating we head back to the hotel only to find, when we are almost back, that jo has left his bag at the noodle bar; it was waiting for us when we returned to the bar, I think he learned his lesson as all future meals included a ritual of him tieing his bag to his leg.