So,

finally I´m starting the real thing. This will be the first Japan photo post followed by tons more.
I decided to start with the first 2 days of our trip. We spent 1 week in Kyoto. The first day we were really tired and didn´t go too far away from our hotel.
So this post is mainly about some random Kyoto impressions. The more interesting and beautiful locations will follow in one of the next posts (meaning: Kyomizudera, Fushimi Inari and the likes ^-^;)

Kyoto Station:



If you want to go farther away from Kyoto, this is the place to go. Kyoto station is really huge and impressive.
What is shown in the photo above is the inside of Kyoto station. You can walk there for hours. There are also a LOT of shops.
You can leave your luggage, there´s a special service. It´s not expensive as well! We did that once while waiting for our Shinkansen to Tokyo ^^
I totally love that ceiling!! (^-^)v



And this is the front of Kyoto station, the central exit. There are always a LOT of people of course ^-^



A lot of Osamu Tezuka stuff was around the station´s entrance, so of course I made some photos ^-^;;;



Yah~ even Astroboy lives in Kyoto!! This photo proves it! XDDDDD



On the right side of the station is a huge post office!!! This is important if you want to send away packages to your home *coughs* XD
And we see a Kyoto bus there. Those were EVERYWHERE!! If you travel within Kyoto bus is the best choice!!! :) We travelled a LOT by bus and bought a day ticket - really saved lots of money ^^



And that´s the famous Kyoto Tower ^-^ (by far not as impressive as the Tokyo Tower of course ^^)



Kyoto Manga Museum:



One day we went to the manga museum in Kyoto, because it was really near. We had other plans for this day as well and thought we would only stay an hour or so there, but .......



... there were soooooooooooo many floors with sooooo many books, it was CRAZY!!!!! I found so many mangas I´ve already read in my language or in English. Seeing them in Japanese an browsing through tons of old series was really a lot of fun ^^
There were a lot of people who took tons of books and sat down somewhere to read them all (^^;)
Unfortunately these are the only photos we have of the manga museum, cuz it was forbidden to take photos inside :/



Kyoto Imperial Palace:



The Kyoto Imperial Palace with it´s huge park was really near our hotel. So of course we went there the first day. It´s really a huge park with a lot of people walking, chatting, jogging, walking their dogs or whatever ^^
What you can see in the photo above is one of the entrances to the park.



A really nice Japanese style garden with a pond and lots of turtles and kois ^____^



Gorgeous, nee? I generally saw a lot of kames (turtles) in Japan and loved to see them, because here in Germany you won´t find them so easily XDDDD



This is also part of the park which holds the palace. We didn´t enter the palace though~ .... Normally you´re not allowed to enter it and need special permission and stuff ... it was too stressful, so we just had a look at it from the outside ... well at least at what we could see XDDDD (which wasn´t much *lol*) On the right you can see some school boys in their uniform.





At our first night, before finally going to bed, we went to the park again to see how it would look at night.
Then we came across what you can see on the photo. We were really happy to see our German flag besides the Japanese one.
We didn´t think anything else of it, just that we have a good relationship with Japan and that´s prolly all there is to this, nee? XDDD .....
On the other hand we wondered about the tons of policemen that were around the park and EVERYWHERE. I really wondered what would be so important to protect.
When we saw the following .....



hesaki: "There´s Angela Merkel (note: German Chancellor of the Confederation) in that car!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! O___O"
Me: "Oh yes, she´s currently in Japan! ^-^; ..."
Both: HOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!! (°________________________________°''') ......

.... While in shock we weren´t fast enough and only got a bit of the cars driving back again. If I remember correctly Angie was sitting in the second car XDDD
I´ve never seen her. Funny you have to go to JAPAN to see your own country´s Chancellor XDDDDDD *coughs*
It was a nice surprise right at our FIRST night in Japan though~ ^^



Random Kyoto shots:



That´s what the shingo (traffic lights) look like in Japan. It´s green ahhr ... blue XDDDD *lol*
Yah~ very interesting, nee? *coughs* But in Germany traffic lights are normally vertical, so it was at least interesting for me! XD



A Catholic church, very near to our hotel!!!!! *loool* XDDDD;



The Chinese zodiac signs. This year is the year of the wild pig, that´s why it was EVERYWHERE in Japan and temples/shrines!!!
.... It took me quite a while to figure that out XDDD ... yah, I had to ask s.o. else *lol*



This one and the next 2 pictures show the view we had out of our hotel window. Nice, nee???
Kyoto´s gorgeous (^-^)V







This was a small shrine near our hotel.



Just a street in Kyoto (^^;;) .....



A Japanese phone booth :)



I just liked the style of that house, that´s why we took a photo of it (^^;)
Yah~ all very random, I`m sorry (T_T)





Very interesting building .. that blue one! :)



This was also a very interesting building. When I remember correctly it was a restaurant (^-^)



We came across a lot of these little mini-shrines with the "Hakenkreuz" (swastika). We´re German, so you can imagine how strange we stared at them. But of course these things have another meaning in Japan, but they´re still forbidden in Germany, so we usually never see it and when we do we have weird feelings XDDD .. (T___T)



Your regular monk XD ... just joking :)



I think this was on our way to Gion, but I can´t remember exactly .... yah my brain, I tell ya!!! ... Over 5000 photos destroyed it completely XD



And here´s the infamous Nova school. There were tons of Nova language schools everywhere we went!!!



Random shot. I love this one although I absolutely have no idea where this was (^^;;)



Japanese houses are indeed very interesting :)



Random street shot again.



Interesting statue in front of an elementary (?) school in Kyoto.



Random shot of girls wearing a yukata (^-^;)



Okay, that´s all for now.
More will come soon, promise! ^-^/
Hope you enjoyed it although the photos this time weren´t that impressive.