Return to Kyoto. Day 1.

They say... if you are only going to come to Japan once in your life, go to Kyoto. Knowing that the chances of Mom and Paula returning to Japan was worse than winning the lottery, I made sure that this was our main destination during their visit. And never having been himself, Mr. Barzak joined our group to Kyoto, making it a 4-some (with more japanese speaking ability than previously).
It was smooth sailing on the 21/2 hour shinkansen (bullet train) ride to the famous former capital. It was also Asahi:thirty on the train. It may have not been a booze cruize, but Paula still peed on her pants while trying to use the japanese facilities onboard the fast train. LOL
Day one.... Arrive in Kyoto. Check into our cheap Ryokan (japanese style hotel), only 40 bucks a day per person.... soooooooooo cheap! After getting settled we headed out to Gion for sightseeing and dinner. We stumbled into a great little Thai restaurant and then proceeded to stumble into one of the nicest Kareoke joints I have ever been in.


Do you remember the kareoke scene in Lost in Translation? They were in this room that had a huge window that looked out into the street, well, we were in a room just like that. The place was immaculate, there was no duct tape patching up the seats, it didn't reak of smoke and the lighting was awsome.


We were sitting in our fairy tale kareoke box trying to figure out how to dim the lights (I seriously never understood how people could sing with all of the lights on) when one of us entered a song... all of a sudden the main lights started to dim and these stage lights come on and flash and spin and do all this crazy stuff. It was like being in a disco club (I looked into another room... and they actually had a disco ball). Seriously, one of the greatest rooms I have ever been in.

After 3 hours of singing, dancing and drinking (Paula was so hammered she was singing Peter Cetera), we hopped into a cab and went back to the Ryokan. Since Chris and I had not seen each other for a long time we decided to head down the street in search of a middnight snack a a few more cocktails.

We finally stumbled into a little izakiya (japanese style bar) just around the corner. This girl started talking to us. She asked us all the regular questions. Where are you from... what are you doing in Japan... Is this your boyfriend... how long have you been here? Then it hit me... It had been exactly one year do the day. Happy One Year In Japan Anniverasry to Me!!! More Lime Sours For Everyone!!!

After consuming many lime sours, Chris and I closed the bar down, stumbled back to our beds and slept hard for several hours. Before we knew it... it was time to get up and get going... we were still drunk.