Kyoto - Our house!

Of the two first times I went to Japan, I only went once to Osaka, and that, only at the second of my visits. I had the chance to stay at the apartment of two friends of Miyako's, for a couple of days (2 days, three nights or something?) and of those days, one was spent with them in Kyoto, drinking delicious matcha and visiting Kinkakuji. 

I realized that Osaka is a really big city (2M500K inhabitants) and it was a shame I did not actually visit for longer. Japanese people describe Osaka as a town of japanese-foreigner within Japan. People in Osaka are seem as a bit more crazy than the rest, and a bit more delinquent. My brother and I thus decided we'd spend a couple of days in hotels in Osaka.

However, in our Lonely Planet (that we used to book hotels according to the ratings and find interesting restaurants and visiting places) there was almost no hotels that were recommended.   On the other hand, Kyoto was filled with them, at cheap prices and good quality, plus, we were not in the high season yet, so there was big chances that there'd still be room, even if we ended up booking the day before we left Kyushu. 

We thus decided to stay in Kansai, but chose Kyoto instead of Osaka. After all, Kyoto is "là où tout a commencé et là où tout finira"... lolz

We managed to book a house on our own in Kyoto, in Higashiyama. the house was equipped with living room, kitchen, kitchen wares and electric appliances, a place to do laundry, bath and a second floor with two bedrooms and a balcony. Le paradis, en bref. 

Close to downtown, the house was in an alley right in front of a nice river, and near an outdoor market. It can accomodate up to 6 people without trouble and both has heating and AC included. The price? $450 for four nights. 

This was just a blessing from heaven <3

The alley in front of our house, and the door. It was very tiny, so doing the

panorama was harder and the alley looks really crooked, but it really was straight.

panoramic view of the small road un front of the river (the road was big enough for one car at a time)

 

The river, again. Wish we had been in the season, we'd have had those trees blooming with pretty flowers everywhere.

 

A bridge we had to cross to get to our side of the road, the house was up the right side of the river, maybe a little 200 meter higher. Down, we have my brother on his side of the river, getting home ahead to get some rest as I went to eat a little something and bought him a bento at the market.