Kyoto - Pay for Pain

Checking in at the Ryokan
Dodo loves staying in Ryokan.  They're traditional Japanese inns that flourished in the 1600's.  Kyoto is known for having many of them so it made sense to stay in one.  They're not my favorite and as we planned the trip, Dodo told me to "pick one of the two I sent you the info on."  One was kinda crappy and the other specialized in adding Yuzu to their hot bath. Yuzu are a Japanese citrus fruit similar to an orange that the Dodo is kinda crazy about.  I'd gotten the signal.....

Ryokan are a rip-off.  You sleep on the hard floor, eat a fancy meal that usually sucks and pay through the nose to take a hot bath with the same sex.  Yah, thanks.

There was no comfortable furniture in the room - none.  This is all of it - a table and two chairs that are not really chairs.  As we waited for dinner I sat on the window sill and sulked.  I wasn't looking forward to sleeping - though they do put down a type of padded sleeping bag to make it a bit more comfortable.

The yuzu theme came to the fore during dinner to comic effect.  We started out with a delicious yuzu drink.  So far, so good.  Then it got funny.  They put yuzu in everything.  Yuzu soup was pushing it.  The best however, the one that made me almost burst out in laughter, was the yuzu in the rice porridge.  When the server lifted the pot lid there was a half a yuzu staring up at us which she proceeded to squeeze with the spatula, wringing out every drop.  It was horrible.  I looked over at Dodo, grinning.  It was hilarious.

Yuzu theme aside, it wasn't so bad.  No complaints about the beauty of the place, situated at the edge of a park near some temples.

The sleeping mattresses were also thicker and more comfortable than expected.  However, when I woke up and saw the sun streaming through the window I was happy to know it was almost over.