Its a hot and humid summer here in  Japan, with temperatures constantly hitting over 30 degrees celcius. So far, we had been lucky, weather-wise and had enjoyed mostly dry, if cloudy days. Today, on our second day in the beautiful city of Kyoto, the rain has caught up to us so we are enjoying a very relaxing afternoon at our hostel (a very nice former Ryokan that was transformed to a hostel, and has tons of great amenities). This morning we were lucky enough to get to see the amazing Golden Pavilion, before the thunder started grumbling loudly and we were forced to find a roof to hide under.

So far, the trip has been wonderful, though I could have lived without the humidity and the cold that I got as a result from the mix of Air conditioning and very hot weather. Here, people with colds often wear masks when out in public, so I spent a day sporting a white hospital mask (my boyfriend thought that was hilarious).

Tomorrow, if the weather is cooperative, we will be heading to Hiroshima for a little day trip. Its about 2 hours away from Kyoto by Shinkansen (high speed train) so with our rail pass we can take the train in the morning, spend some time there visiting and come back to sleep at our hostel in the late evening.

Here are some photos from the first part our our trip