Weekend!!

So Saturday I went to Kyoto! Specifically the Higashiyama district! I went to the Heian Shrine first. Then I went to the Karako ramen shop. I hope it is the right one. I took a picture of the outside to make sure later. The worker in Karako ordered for me, I got the kotteri ramen again! I wasn't sure if I'd like it, but guess what! It was much much better and not as thick as the ramen that I had at Tenkaippin. It was very good. I liked the pork in it. Mmmm. Oh and this place is cheaper! Hooray! I think it was better because it wasn't a chain. :)

After lunch, I went to the Kyoto zoo, which I have been to before, but I wanted to go again. I took a picture of almost every animal in the zoo! It was most fun to watch the primates. Oh, and I also got some ice cream!

After the zoo, I went to the Shorenin Temple. I found it okay this time! I spent over an hour wandering around and sitting in the rooms. I think this is my favorite temple so far. You got to go inside and just relax, I liked that. I also liked walking around outside in the garden. I don't know if they do the light show right now. I tried looking it up online, and I think it's seasonal. :(

After that, I walked to the Westin Miyako to see if it looked familiar. I wandered around inside (A/C! and clean bathrooms!), and I saw a bride and groom about to walk into a room and get married! I've seen lots of brides and grooms around. Anyway, after that I was really really tired and I went home. And ate leftover Pizza Hut pizza!

I am always lazy on Sundays. I eventually got myself to leave my room around 1 pm, and I headed in the direction of Heijokyo, the Nara Imperial Palace of 1300 years ago that basically doesn't exist anymore. There's a gate, some mounds, and some foundations, but it's basically gone. I walked to the major gate, and some guy gave me a map of the grounds. I decided to walk across the big field area to the museum (the map said it was free and there were restrooms next door!). It was a pleasant walk, good breeze. Would have been more fun if I was riding a bike because it was nice and flat. Well I got the museum and it looked closed. There was a sign and all I could read were some dates, June 2009 to March 2010. So I think maybe it's closed between those dates? Oh well. I was sad. But I had also walked so far from home that I was now closer to a train station (Yamato Saidaiji) that is one away from the one closest to my house. So I decided to take the train back instead of walking. But wait! I didn't want to leave yet! It's summer shopping sales time! I went to Nara Family (dept. store), and headed to UNI QLO, my new obsession. I went there on Saturday in Kyoto Station when I noticed the awesome sales. The UNI QLO in Nara Family is a very large store. Oh, it's a clothing store, forgot that. It's simple clothing, bright colors, and fairly reasonably priced. And then well most of the stuff was on sale! It kinda reminds me of American Apparel how the clothing is colored and simple, but the clothes are hmm not so weird looking and more appealing to everyone? I dunno maybe throw in some Old Navy with the variety of clothing they were selling to. So I spent about an hour in there looking around, and I left with a dress and a shirt for a total of 1480 yen. Not bad I do not think. Both are cotton and really soft, and I need to find some tights or something for the dress, it's a little see through I think. Okay, enough talking about clothing, after UNI QLO, I quickly exited the mall before I saw anything else that I might want. Then I went home, sat around, and made dinner. Chicken and potatoes. Haha. I cooked the chicken in a combo of miso, soy sauce, and mirin. I did it before and it's not so bad. Better than dry chicken. That's about it. Next week I plan on going to the beach at Lake Biwa! YAY!