{"id":541,"date":"2011-03-30T10:33:16","date_gmt":"2011-03-29T23:33:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lakegnotuk.com.au\/?p=541"},"modified":"2013-02-03T16:24:40","modified_gmt":"2013-02-03T05:24:40","slug":"touring-kyotos-imperial-palace-botanic-garden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lakegnotuk.com.au\/?p=541","title":{"rendered":"Touring Kyoto’s Imperial Palace & Botanic Garden"},"content":{"rendered":"

After an interminably long walk, we arrived at the Imperial Palace and took a bit of a stroll around two of the giant perimeter walls before realising that there was no way of entry (excepting through the paid entrance). We had a nice little lunch at the souvenir shop – the Japanese idea of tea and sandwiches doesn’t completely match the idea you have in your mind, but is tasty and inexpensive.<\/p>\n

Some cherry blossoms in an outer garden were blooming, so we joined the not-quite-yet thronging masses to photographed them.<\/p>\n

We joined a tour of the Palace and happened to luck upon an English tour which unfortunately contained a small horde of Americans. Kind of jars you completely out of the Japanese serenity.<\/p>\n

Racing through the day, we managed to arrive at the Botanic Gardens 10 minutes after the conservatory (which by all accounts is worth a look in) shut its doors.<\/p>\n

Right next to the subway entrance was an modern art installation which contained some interesting interpretations of both Asian and Western masters.<\/p>\n

A dinner of Hong Kong style noodles at the brain-numbingly large Cube capped off a tiring day.<\/p>\n