日七

Today was our first big move to another city, in this case from Tokyo to Kyoto. We accomplished this by way of the shinkansen, which was quite something. The one disappointment I had in the process was that because the train has to sustain such high speeds it cannot make any quick turns which means that it’s rail line has to be very straight this necessitates a great many tunnels because of all the mountains. So there was a lot of underground traveling. Also many times the tracks were below grade even when we weren’t in a tunnel. This did not well serve my desire to take videos of the experience. The shinkansen is so smooth and quiet that the only way to know you were actually traveling at 250 mph is to look out the window. It really is strange to see buildings go by that quickly. I am fairly sure that that is the fastest I have ever traveled on land. I was in a fairly fast train in France once but I think it was only going half that speed. I enjoyed the hotel we were in in Kyoto much more than the one in Tokyo because 1: I had it to myself: and 2: we actually had a good and complementary Internet connection. Also I think that I just like Kyoto a bit better as a city, however it only wins by a hair as I live Tokyo a great deal as well. 

今日は新幹線で京都にいきました。新幹線はとても静かて、迅速でした。京都のホテルは小さいでした、でも、ホテルはきれいでした。