Osaka to Kyoto

I started the journey this year from a friend's place in Esaka, Osaka somewhat in the middle of the commercial and office area of northern Osaka. We met since the very beginning of my stay in Japan, having matriculated at the same time, him a masters student and me a doctoral student. We have not seen each other for quite some time so we had quite a lot of catching up done since graduation.

Just staying a night in Esaka, I proceeded northwards to Kyoto, stopping for breakfast in Hirakata where there is a famous amusement park. I rode along the golf courses on the banks of the Yodogawa and by 1pm in the afternoon, I reached my guesthouse in Kiyomizudera, Kyoto city. Unfortunately the nearest bicycle parking was about 500m away near the river. Check-in time was also a few hours away so I used Couchsurfing hangouts to while away my time till then.

Together with the couchsurfer from the US, IG @radiant_void and I went to Fushimi Inari Taisha (again!). She was late so I went to have lunch in the ramen shop just outside the train station. It rained on our way up the hill but otherwise it was a good walk. That place is perpetually full of tourists and really difficult to take pictures.

Replica of the boats that used to ferry goods up the canals connecting Kyoto and Fushimi Inari.

After that it was time to check in to my guesthouse so I did and rested a little bit before meeting up with another couchsurfer from Singapore. We met up in a coffee place near Kawaramachi station. He happened to be the guy who quit his job to travel and see the world.

One of the shrines I passed by while exploring Kyoto

The next day, there was really nice weather so it was really good to have come to Kyoto with a bicycle. I explored all the back alleys and paths behind those houses and small shops inside the Kyoto city blocks. Eventually I reached Kinkakuji area where I started to turn back towards my guesthouse again. I rested a little and had something to eat for dinner before meeting and talking at length with some Japanese guy who was interested in physics.

Visiting Geneva

Finally the weekends and a chance to do something in Geneva.  Although I did not manage to get a free bike from CERN, there were free four hour bike rentals waiting for me in Geneva. Genèveroule is a voluntary organization with at five spots in the city where you can rent a bike for zero swiss franc.  All you need is some identification papers and an address of your hotel.  Here are some of the pictures I took.

Some random street photo soon after I got off the tram from CERN to Coutance.

Tram terminal.  Nice and clean tram.

View from the Tourist Information building.  You can see the Jet d'Eau.

View from another angle.

Old model boats that carry tourist across Lake Geneva.

I was cycling along the lake.  Nice weather coupled with a nice view of the surrounding lakes makes it an unforgettable journey.

Weekend market?  Looks like any other market in Europe.

A nice little crepe restaurant beside Cathedral St. Pierre.

Cathedral St. Pierre

A portion of the poster about the reformation.

This photo didn't turn out as it was supposed to.  You are supposed to be able to see the 'seven' colours of the rainbow  due to the water droplets from the fountain.

The United Nations office in Geneva.  Closed during weekends.  Did not stop tourists from taking photos.  Heh..

Ariana, a museum of glass and ceramics.

The red cross museum.  Closed until 2013. Sad.

Fondue pots!  So many different designs of it.

A side view of Cathedral St. Pierre.

Venezia and a little bit of Milan

From Lido di Jesolo, we managed to catch the ferry from Punta Sabbioni to Venezia at about 10pm.  We then checked-in into a youth hostel aptly named Osthello Venezia in the nearby southern island of Guidecca. The price per night, EUR25 is very high as we got crappy beds but the next cheapest hotel was EUR90!

Since we arrived near midnight, we decided to sleep and do the sight seeing tomorrow morning.  I got really disgusted as all the places of interest charges at minimum EUR11 entrance fees.  For example the Doge's palace, the many museums and churches and the tower on Piazza San Marco.  In the end, we just walked around the city's narrow walkways and alley, crossing its many bridges like the Rialto watching gondolas carrying tourists.

In the mornings, from the hostel windows you can see a few cruise ships capable of carrying at least 5000 people entering the city waters bringing lots of tourist.  There are way too many tourists in Venezia.

Along the way to Jesolo, we passed by some nice vineyards.