11/8 - Back in Kyoto so soon

We hopped onto a green Keihan train to leave Uji for Kyoto.  We would have to transfer along the way, though.  We went back the way we came and actually did the train station transfers instead of walking the 20-30 minutes to transfer near Momoyama.  When we got onto the train for Kyoto, we were surprised that we would boarding the Ise-Shima Liner.  This is a fancier longer distance train coming in from Ise, which is 151 km away from Kyoto by car.  It looked very different from the regular urban trains that we had been riding.  It was more streamlined and had some very fancy seats in a first class area.  We weren't allowed on the first class car obviously, but the seats in the regular car were a little more comfortable to accommodate for a longer ride.  A train ride from Ise to Kyoto is 2+ hour ride.  Too bad we were only on this train for 10 minutes at most.  It would have been a nice comfy long distance ride.

We arrived back in Kyoto Station, but we were in a totally different part of this large train station and had to find our way back to the main entrance in order to figure out where we were.  Once we found the main entrance, we could re-orient ourselves and head into the underground mall for another round of takoyaki.  It was just as good as the first time.

After dinner, we wondered the mall for a bit, but there wasn't much that interested us.  So we went back up to Kyoto Station's Sky Garden.  To be honest, there wasn't much to see.  And you could see hand prints on all the windows that offered views of the city.  I didn't find it that impressive up there, plus it was feeling very cold this evening.  So went back down.  There was a piano recital going on in the large amphitheatre just on the way down from the Sky Garden.  There were all these school-age kids playing their songs.  I think we stayed for 3 songs.  Unfortunately, 2 of the songs were the same.  They must have the same piano teacher teaching the same piece.

And because it was nearly Christmas, there was a giant lit up Christmas tree that was just above the amphitheatre stage and could be seen by the milling transit riders below.  I think Christmas is more over the top in Asia than it is back home.  We just never see gigantic electric trees back home.