Miss Neko in Kyoto: Nijō Castle, Imperial Palace & Updates ♥

Hi everyone ! ♡＼(￣▽￣)／♡
Ohh ~ It feels like I've been away from my blog for ages.
It's almost been half a year. But I had lots of important things going
on in my life recently. I actually might have never worked so hard in my life like
I do these days. And I have a reason for it that's really dear to my heart.
I can't wait to tell everybody about it. But I must wait until this may.
At least so far things are looking pretty damn good ! 

So more about this in may, that's a promise ;3

♪~   Update Time   ~ ♪

Today I took another very important Japanese exam at my University.

That has been the reason I've been hidden away in a dark cave for weeks.
Learning every day, only getting out once a day for lunch.
It' will pay out eventually, I guess ^^
~♥~
I'm also currently still working at a Japanese bookstore called
Takagi - Books & more （高木書店・ドイツ）

Let's get to todays topic:  My trip to Kyoto 

On the picture above you can see me standing right in front of
Nijō Castle ( Nijo-jo in Japanese. 二条城 )
It's an UNESCO World Heritage located in Kyoto.
 The person who ordered the construction of the castle was the famous Tokugawa Ieyasu.

 You should remember the name if you're into Japan.
It's one of the history basics ;3

Tokugawa Ieyasu 

was the founder and first Shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate,
which  ruled Japan from the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600
until the Meiji Restoration in 1868.
He was one of the 3 historic persons who unified feudal Japan (1185-1603)
and led to major changes for the country.
The other 2 were :
Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. 

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Just to give you the basic background informations.
I think it's really important to keep the history in mind that's so tightly
connected to these beautiful places in Japan.
I think you shouldn't just wander around air-headed at these landmarks
like one of the more ignorant tourists.
The castle was also a museum with lots of explainations and interesting
displays with lifesized puppets in the castle.
But enough history lesson for now,
I'm already getting nightmares as I'm reminded of my long ago
Basic Japanese History exam ...
I must say I was really awestruck when I saw this beautiful place with my own eyes,
thinking of it's past and the people who lived there.
I use to get really dreamy and thoughtful at historic places like this.

Me at one of the castle's moats. It has 2 fortifications looking like this.
You can also see the big wall on the left.

I climbed sooo many steps with my friend Bea for this pretty view over the area.
I love it how you can almost always see mountains at Kyoto's horizon, as
it's sourrounded by them with an opening in the south.
Therefore it's also insanely hot with super humid air. That day was one of the
hottest day's I witnessed in Japan. It was extreme for me as a German.
I've never been in such a climate before, but I still prefere it to the German weather.

Here you could listen to some of the history of Nijo Castle.
Fun Fact: The golden letters on the bottom of the sign
say Kyoto Rakuchuu Lion's Club | 京都 洛中ライオンズクラブ
and that instantly caught my eye as I only know of the existence of
Lion's clubs due to my boyfriend :D
His mother was/is (?) a member of a German one (they are everywhere)
and my honey once took part in an exchange program to Sweden trough them.
I didn't know they had this in Kyoto as well.

One of the doll displays :

They had lots more inside the Castle and that was truly the most beautiful part
but you couldn't take photos inside. You also had to take off your shoes before
going in. I really liked it, it felt funny to walk just in socks in such a huge building with
so many other people :D The floor was wooden and the one in the hallways is
even a very special one. It's called :
Nightingale floor

as it makes a chirping sound when you walk on it.
And it really did ^^ It was build for protection. So intruders
who snuck in at night would instantly wake someone up.

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The moat:

I wanted to go inside the water soo badly as it was so hot but of course I couldn't :D
I'm still so in love with all the details of the architecture. Better than in any movie.
These things make me just wanna sit there and dream all day.

Kara-mon - the main entry to the Ninomaru Palace :

The Ninomaru Palace is one of the 2 palaces on the compound.

Here you can see the build in Japanese cranes (Red-crowned crane)
タンチョウ = Tanchou
They have always been an important symbol in Japan.
They are even the official logo of Japan Airlines ^^
There is lots of Japanese art portraying them but my favourite things
displaying them are - of course - Kimono ♥
Sadly they are endangered and on the Red List.

Uchikake with Red-crowned Cranes :

Can you see me hiding from the harsh sun under an umbrella on the photo below ?
Now that's at the Kyoto Imperial Palace :

I hope you have an idea now of how incredibly huge this Palace area is.
I think I've never been to a building that had such wide surroundings.
It felt a bit surreal and adventurous ^^

The Kyoto Imperial Palace  is the former ruling palace of the Emperor of Japan.
Since 1869 (Meiji Restoration) the Emperor resides in Tokyo which is Japan's
capital since then. Before all that Kyoto was Japan's capital.

And again you can see mountains and a shadow creature (￣▽￣*)ゞ

Another very cold and tempting river thing I found that day ;D
But I don't exactly know what this one is, I don't think it's a moat as it's so shallow.
I really liked it, please tell me what this is if you know ^^

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While wandering around the area a friendly Japanese woman came to us and
asked us in English where we're from. It turns out she was doing a
homework for her english course. What a great idea and pretty easy in big cities in 
Japan due to all the tourists.
Using sightseeing spots as places to find language practise :)
How nice. We talked a bit and she was also surprised how we could just have a 
normal conversation in Japanese with her ^^ 

 That's it for today !
I hope you want to visit Kyoto now too ♥
Nya  (´｡• ω •｡`).｡ｏ♡