Chapter 6 - Kyoto Aquarium
We planned a short Kyoto trip in our vacation. We kept the hotel in Tokyo for the duration of our vacation so we didn't need to take all of our stuff with us to Kyoto. We just packed up a little bit of clothes into one suitcase and caught the shinkansen to Kyoto. We also asked to get seats on the right side of the shinkansen in hopes of catching a glimpse of Mt. Fuji.
We got to Kyoto just after 3pm and checked into our hotel there. We stayed at the APA Hotel Kyotoeki-Horikawadori. Staying at this hotel made me greatly appreciate my last minute decision to switch hotels in Tokyo at the last minute. APA Hotels are not for vacation. They're more like for businessmen who need some place to crash for the night because these rooms are tiny! There is literally enough room to open one suitcase before walking space is sacrificed. The bathrooms are tiny and there is not even a thermostat, it's central air and you get a choice of the A/C being ON or OFF, that's it. The room doesn't even get cold when it is on. But for a $45 per night hotel, that's what you get. Good enough for an overnight stay but this is definitely not some place to stay at during a vacation.
After we got settled in we walked down to the Kyoto Aquarium which was about a 10 minute walk away. It's a very nice aquarium and we went around 4:00PM and there was not too many people there, definitely no where near like the crowds in Tokyo. This was probably my second favorite aquarium after the Sumida Aquarium. The Kyoto Aquarium is known for their giant salamanders!
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| About 2 hours and 15 minutes for the Nozomi Shinkansen. The Hikari and Kodama Shinkansens a little longer than 3 hours. |
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| These tonkatsu sandwiches were my favorite! |
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| Mt. Fuji in his cloud blanket. |
We got to Kyoto just after 3pm and checked into our hotel there. We stayed at the APA Hotel Kyotoeki-Horikawadori. Staying at this hotel made me greatly appreciate my last minute decision to switch hotels in Tokyo at the last minute. APA Hotels are not for vacation. They're more like for businessmen who need some place to crash for the night because these rooms are tiny! There is literally enough room to open one suitcase before walking space is sacrificed. The bathrooms are tiny and there is not even a thermostat, it's central air and you get a choice of the A/C being ON or OFF, that's it. The room doesn't even get cold when it is on. But for a $45 per night hotel, that's what you get. Good enough for an overnight stay but this is definitely not some place to stay at during a vacation.
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| Tiny room... |
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| Tiny bathroom... |
After we got settled in we walked down to the Kyoto Aquarium which was about a 10 minute walk away. It's a very nice aquarium and we went around 4:00PM and there was not too many people there, definitely no where near like the crowds in Tokyo. This was probably my second favorite aquarium after the Sumida Aquarium. The Kyoto Aquarium is known for their giant salamanders!
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| Giant salamander! |
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| Pile of giant salamanders! |
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| They had a large tank but for some reason they just pile up on each other.. |
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| Many aquariums had garden eels but the ones in the Kyoto aquarium were the most active. |
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| There was also an outdoor section that was supposedly modeled after a rice field |
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| Short dolphin show. |
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| I've never seen one of these, I love how it just sits next to its name plate. |
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| Never seen a batfish in an aquarium before. |
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| This is the large open ocean tank that Kyoto Aquarium is also known for, with the large school of sardines swimming around at the top in the back. |
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| These guys were just chillin in this small tank! They can swim down and under the walkway to get back to the main tank. |
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| There were all these little sculptures in different areas of the city. |
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