Kyoto

This is our last day in Kyoto. Tomorrow we leave for Narita and fly back to NYC. Kyoto has been great. Ross and I rented bikes yesterday and biked around what seemed like the entire city. We went to shrines and botanical gardens as well as a few restaurants. There are built in locks on the bikes, which is nice. Its amazing how honest people are here in Japan. You have to pay different subway fares depending on how far you are going and people actually pay the appropriate fare! (So if you were in NY and going from Bleecker to 81st it would be more than going to 42nd.) They don`t check - people just do it. Amazing!!!
What is also pretty incredible is the bullet train. It took us from Tokyo to Kyoto (about 250 miles) in just over 2 hours.
Once we got here we took a cab to our Ryokan - a traditional Japanese Inn. We stayed in the exact same room where Kurosawa used to stay while in Kyoto. You sleep on mats on the floor and eat rice and miso soup for breakfast. It is the Japanese equivalent of a bed and breakfast. Unfortunately I am not a good B&B person. We stayed there for two night and are now at a hotel, which oddly is less expensive.
Will post pics tonight...

Last hour in Tokyo

Ross and I are getting ready to leave Tokyo and go to Kyoto. Yesterday was a weird day. We went to Shinjuku, where to our surprise, all the Americans hang out. We went to the New York Grill at the Hilton Hotel, which Lonely Planet recommended for the view. It was nice and expensive but not worth the trip. We then went to Bic Camera - basically a B&H, but incredibly better if you can believe it. Then we met up with Avijit, Mayu and Yumi and went to a Korean restaurant for dinner. A lot of sake later we came back to our new hotel room (had to switch hotels yesterday) and went to bed. Now we are watching CNN and learning a lot about Joe Biden and eating breakfast. At 11 we are off to Kyoto!