Kyoto has been a mind blowing city for me. It is a little less polite and a little more hectic than Tokyo (which I never would have guessed) but I love it. In Ireland you see thousand year old castles every half hour as you just drive down the road. Here you see thousand year old shrines and temples every fifty feet as you walk to the bus. It's insane! Kudos to the city for preserving it all. Unfortunately, I finally understand what the guidebooks meant when they...

It's been getting down into the thirties at night, and our little wall heater struggles to keep up. We bundle up before bed and bury ourselves in comforters to stay warm, which makes it even harder than usual to drag ourselves out into the cold. Against the advice of every guide book ever written about Kyoto, we slept in before heading out for some temple sighting. Most things close by 5pm here (even the restaurants and stores shutter by 6!) so you've got to sque...