Today was our much awaited first free day during the program. After a quick meeting, with a diminishing few of our conspirators from last night we decided to head to the so-called romantic train that goes between Kameoka and Saga Arashiyama that we have seen so many times from the main train line that goes between Kameoka and Kyoto and then head back to Osaka. So we stopped off at the second Kameoka train station with a big sign at the terminal that says “Romantic Train” to find tickets. We ask the ticket taker where the train is and he says, “No.” So after a brief discussion among ourselves, we assume that that train is closed and so, wait for the next train to Kyoto.
After hopping the train, we look out at the next stop, Saga Arashiyama, we see the romantic train on a separate track next to the station. So, we sprint out of the regular train to the romantic train and just miss it. We decided to stay around for the next one which runs in about 50 minutes. During that time I wander around and don’t find much (except some green tea ice cream). When I return, I notice a great big map that shows a lot of really interesting things in this area which I walked right past on my way out.
So next, we get on the romantic train and it was gorgeous. There is a natural gorge that a river runs through with very steep, heavily forested slopes. The sun was shining and everything was beautiful. In the river we saw several boats filled with tourists braving the whitewater in the river. We briefly considered taking one of the boats but at ¥3900 we couldn’t really afford it. Maybe we’ll hop it later in the trip.
After that, we went to Kyoto to talk to the people in the National Tourist Office to find out if there are any soccer games in Osaka or Kyoto today. Again we were out of luck on the soccer, but we did find out there is one in both Osaka and Kyoto on Saturday so we made plans see soccer that day. For lunch we wandered around outside the Kyoto station and stumbled on this great little restaurant with a great lunch special, soup, rice, salad, and Japanese fried chicken for ¥750. Delicious.
Since our outing to Osaka was cut short and Rebecca had a dinner appointment, we headed back to Saga Arashiyama to see all the things we had missed earlier in the day. It was a very happy accident, because we had a really good time that day. There was a lovely river that we all just sat down and watched for a while. We then headed up this huge mountain on the far side of the river to see the monkeys. They were very cute and fun loving. We also had an excellent view of the valley below us and got some spectacular shots.
I went with Rebecca to dinner with a new friend she met, Ayumi. Ayumi is a high school student that she met earlier in the trip. She is currently a swimming teacher for children and will soon be going to the University of Kyoto. She was very sweet and took us to another Japanese restaurant where I had a tempura dish. All of it was very good except for the sweet tofu.
The rest of the day was spent doing administrative stuff like laundry, packing for Tamano City, and going to bed early.
Tomorrow, Sanyo and a Hanshin Tigers professional baseball game.