If yesterday was all about chasing blossoms, this morning I finally caught some! Things are looking up.

I couldn’t face getting up at 5 am after my big day yesterday especially to see blossoms that no longer exist. I was definitely feeling that half empty glass. So I started wandering around 7.30 thinking I would get some breakfast somewhere before heading to my morning destination Shinjuku Gyoen. I decide to walk ( as I do) thinking it might loosen up my aching body… and in keeping with my day yesterday… I get lost… (as I do)… which in my own defence, is very easy to do in Tokyo without Wi-Fi and google maps. So… as it turned out, no breakfast, adding several extra kilometres to the morning and late to the garden. As a result, I am on a bit of a tight schedule now, with my sleep-in, needing to check out of my hotel at 11.00 and my booking on the bullet train to Kyoto. But I really think that an hour in the garden will be enough. How wrong I was.

As a former samurai family-owned-garden-turned-imperial-park, Shinjuku Gyoen is a massive space in the inner city where you can take a breather from Tokyo’s hustle and bustle.

I knew this beautiful park featured over a thousand sakura trees, but imagined they would be like the rest I had seen… well passed their best. Happily, I was wrong! As soon as I entered the garden I could see blossoms! Beautiful, fresh blooms.

There are so many varieties of cherry blossom trees and the sakura in Shinjuku bloom at different times for prolonged enjoyment throughout the season- and there were many in full bloom. Big beautiful fresh blossoms and lots of them. Perfect to satisfy my Sakura-longing eyes.

Not an ethereal pink sea of them but certainly more than I was expecting this morning. Be still my beating heart.

The main Shinjuku cherry blossom route winds leisurely through the grounds of this national garden, with sakura trees along the path. It leads up to open areas with plenty of space where you can relax in the sun admiring the cherry blossoms overhead… if only I had time. I didn’t want to leave but had to get back to my hotel…but will be back for the night illumination after my visit to Kyoto.

My trip on the Shinkansen was just what I needed. These trains are amazing- they look and move like a bullet reaching speeds of 320 km and had me in Kyoto within about two smooth and comfortable hours… gave me time to relax and blog and look out the window at the beauty of the mountainous regional landscape and small traditional Japanese villages… and I wished it were longer.

I arrived in Kyoto… and wow… so many tourists (don’t like so many tourists… even if I am one 😂). It reminded me of Santorini walking down the main street shoulder to shoulder with hordes of people… the perils of over-tourism! And the lines for a taxi felt nearly as long as my airport immigration wait. Eventually I arrived at my hotel… a new experience for me as I had decided “when in Rome”, to stay in a capsule hotel. And it’s actually very cosy and comfy.

As always I was keen to explore my local area. Sometimes the best way to explore a city is to just dive in head-first; no plan, no itinerary, just feet on the pavement, eyes wide and propelled by an unquenchable curiosity and wanderlust. I wandered through the atmospheric mazes of old-style Japanese buildings with their myriad of lanterns, whilst the day turned to evening… the lanterns giving it a magical atmosphere.

I had chosen to stay in Gion, with its shrines, temples and beautiful streets… one of those places where you can immerse yourself in the charming historic atmosphere of traditional Kyoto. Sounded amazing and was… and parts of it, once you venture a little outside the main tourist streets, were like stepping back in time… and it’s easy to get a sense of serenity and authenticity. Give me cobbled streets and picturesque machiya in Kyoto over the modern bright lights of Tokyo any day.

The Gion district was once the largest pleasure district in Kyoto and is known for geisha culture, even today… and you can spot a geisha or geiko as they are known in Kyoto, although it can be difficult to get more then a fleeting glance of these icons (I saw three at different times as I wandered the streets here).

I wander through streets that follow small canals, crossed by picturesque bridges…

…and lined by ancient, majestic weeping willow trees sagging under the weight of their own leaves and weeping cherry blossom trees (the first of this type I had seen)…

…and dotted with fancy traditional restaurants.

This is Kyoto at its picturesque best. On both sides of the main canal, the cobbled streets with their traditional wooden houses and tea houses seem to transport me into the past.

Historic and modern stores on sit side by side and sell everything from hankerchiefs decorated with cherry blossom motifs to pink and white coloured rice cakes and sweets, all trying to capture the beauty of the Sakura season.

Even the post office is adorable.

Yasaka Shrine, also known as Gion Shrine is one of the neighbourhood’s most iconic destinations.

Standing proudly in its lantern lined glory, it is a popular cherry blossom location (a couple of weeks ago). I have a wander through it’s grounds filled with street food vendors and realise I am hungry… but also realise I have left my purse on my bed back at the hotel. So I rush back to pick it up before heading to Kyoto’s only castle- Nijo…

…that is holding A digital light art exhibition “Naked Flowers” that lights up the entire castle and garden complex.

There is also amazing display of illuminated Sakura.

Time for bed…exhausted again although only walked 18kms today (compared to 30 yesterday) and another early start planned for tomorrow.