Shinkansen, Mt.Fuji and Kyoto!

Mount Fuji!!!!!!!

Finally got to put our JR Passes to good use and experience the famous Bullet Train!!! This morning we had to say farewell to the amazing Tokyo and of course the wonderful Toukaisou Ryokan and bid bon voyage to Sue!

Dont know how I managed to fit everything into my backpack and Im not suprised that it feels like Im carrying an elephant in there!!!! We made the trek across Tokyo to the train station where we sat outside enjoying a breakfast of cinnamon pastries and an iced latte with pistacio which was bright green!Yummy!!! We had a bit of a wait around so we could activate our JR Passes so the time was spent eating, smoking way too many marlboro lights and getting shouted at by a bunch of rude promotions girls in hideous spangly lycra who made us move our bags!
We boarded the much anticipated 'Bullet Train' at Tokyo and took the route down to the Kansai Region to Kyoto!I was so excited!you can actually twirl to chairs around on the Shinkansen trains so you can choose the position that you sit!!!I loved it! Needless to say we twisted the whole row of seats around so we had a perfect panoramic view out of the window!!!The trains are so fast...amazing views however, great way to see the country...we saw teeny, tiny, rural villages, to Rice Paddies, to mountains....and eventually the long awaited Mt.Fuji!!! It was amazing to see it in the flesh!!Its always a bizarre feeling when you see such a prominant thing that you have only ever read about in books or seen on TV, so it was pretty overwhelming, I think I was lost for words! It was covered with a blanket of mist at the top and I was suprised by how green everything was! Saying that with all of this rain, there no chance of a drought!

Finally arrived in Kyoto and were welcomed with a horrendous thunder storm! This is the worst weather I have yet to experience since arriving in Japan! Apparently the further south you travel the worse the rain is!!! With our map in hand and backpacks firmly strapped on we waded our way through the tiny streets in search of our hostel! Managed to find it pretty easily and already the contrast between Kyoto and Tokyo is evident... For all its a city, it is surrounded by ranges or mountains so everywhere you look you are kind of enclosed with hills. The overall atmosphere is a lot quieter and somehow it just has a totally different vibe, and I like it! Theres still my favourite Japanese elements here such as the little vending machines that I love so much!!!

Staying in a really cool hostel called 'K's House'! I can honastly say its the best hostel I have ever encountered!!!Its full of like minded people who seem a really good bunch, its all newly refurbished, has a great little Japanese wooden decked patio.....brilliant communal kitchens and it has the crazy toilets with all the gadgets such as music, fake flush and warm seats!!! Kyoto has always been the place I have dreamed of visiting so Its a dream come true that Im actually here, its so exciting!!! Bags were quickly dumped as we set off with our trusty umbrellas to check out the delights of Kyoto!