Aubrey and I went to sleep around 12:20am and tossed and turned a bit, but we got up for good just after 6. We gather everyone by 8, checked out of our hotel and walked about 20 minutes to Shinagawa station to catch our Shinkansen (bullet train). Navigating a busy morning train station with an entourage of 8 people is definitely different from my last trip where I was alone all of the time.
We scouted out the multitude of prepared food options at the station, bought a smorgasbord of items, and then broke with Japanese convention and had a floor picnic before we headed down to our Train platform. We were a bit ahead of schedule, shockingly enough.
The Shinakanasen here are amazingly efficient, clean, and roomy – quite a pleasant experience. The ride from Tokyo to Kyoto was only about 2 hours. We managed to get some nice views of Mt Fuji on the way. Can’t wait to see what adventures we have next!
photo credit Kerrie Ye:
