I didn’t get any pictures right after getting off the plane; if you’ve ever gotten off a big international flight, it was exactly like that. If you’ve never had the experience, imagine a bunch of boring hallways, where you go and hand over some forms to bored officials, and they look at you sternly and then stamp your passport. The only real difference this time was the lettering on the signs was half in a new language (most signs are in English and Japanese).
We met Nicholas after we got out of customs and picked up our hotspot gadget (which is why I have internet here hurtling through the countryside on this train). Then we made our way to the train station, picked up our rail passes, and waited. We had some beers while waiting on the train to toast our arrival. The party was together.
I tried to get photos out of the train window, but nothing worked. I think it was probably a combination of being up far too long on too little sleep, and the fact that the trains here are really fast. I ended up with a couple I don’t hate, anyway.
Then we had to walk from the station to our hotel. It took us a good 15 minutes just to find our way out of the station, and then we wandered back in to a different part, got lost again, then finally mad our way out to the surface and to the road we needed. During all of that, I was juggling luggage and camera, and managed to lose the new viewfinder for my 15mm. of course I didn’t bring the old one as a backup, so I’ll have to pick up another one of those when I’m back in the states.
So, after getting to the hotel, showering, and getting some yakitori for dinner, I went looking for the thing, retracing my steps, but didn’t find it. Oh, and the last photo: that’s the view out our first night’s hotel window. Now the train, and Kyoto is up next. Woot!
