20th October 2018 (Saturday)
I was checking out and moving to Daiya Ryokan today. The guesthouse owner saw me in my t-shirts and told me it would be very cold. I said I would be okay. As I stepped out of the guesthouse, I realised what she meant. It was drizzling and it was cold. She was right and I pulled out my jacket.
On arrival at Kyoto Station, I went to the south-side to store my baggage at the coin lockers near the escalator coming down from Pedestrian Walkway on the first floor (or 2nd floor in American English). Almost all the lockers were coin-operated, as opposed to IC card operated. The lockers accept ¥100 coins only. The medium size locker which I used cost ¥500.
Since it was still drizzling, I was in no hurry to go to Nijojo Castle. After storing my baggage, I went to Hachijo East Side to video-tape the JR Nara Line train station with a running commentary to record what I did the previous morning and to find the spot where I arrived from Osaka Airport. I also recorded a video on how to get to Ramen Restaurants from Kyoto Station south side via the Pedestrian Walkway.
From Nijo-jo, I would be going to Kinkaku-ji Temple in the afternoon by bus. It would be more prudent to buy a bus one-day pass for an unlimited ride for ¥600. Using the ICOCA card, it would cost me ¥230 x 3 trips = ¥690. The day pass could be bought from Bus Ticket Center on the north side of Kyoto Station, just outside the Central Entrance.
I was not very sure how the one-day pass was inserted into the pass reader the first time it was used to have the date printed on the pass. From my seat, I was observing how passengers paid their bus fares when they disembarked. Many were paying by dropping their coins into the cash slot. Someone also changed his big note to coins using the machine. Very few were tapping their ICOCA cards on the card reader. I also noticed many showing some kind of cards to the driver and I was confused at what they were doing. Surely, being a tourist city, there would be many visitors using the one-day pass the first time this morning. I did not notice any, until later on the bus trip. By the time the bus arrived at Nijojo-mae bus stop, I knew what to do already.
Nijojo Castle was okay. It has an interesting history with respect to Ninomaru-goten Palace. Other than that, there was nothing much to see.
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