1st Day in Japan

After landing at Narita Airport on 11/13/08 we quickly tried to head to our hotel in Kyoto. First we went through imigration and then customs. Next we exchanged some of our money into yen. After that we tried to call the hotel to let them know we will be a little late for our check-in. Just trying to make a phone call was a mission. After realizing that Anthony's international plan doesn't work in Japan we tried to rent a phone. It would have worked out great except they didn't accept my American Mastercard nor would they take cash. So we ended up buying a calling card. Alright we finally make our call to the hotel and go to trade our JR (Japan Railway) voucher in for a ticket. We are realived and excited that we are finally on our way. We get on our 1st train. The train is beautiful, clean and comfortable. People are courteous. We take the train approximately halfway where we are supposed to transfer to another train. Here is where we get confused. We are looking at the maps, asking workers for directions and our worried we are not going to make it to the hotel in time. The train comes, I sent Anthony to call the hotel and we miss it. So now we have to wait a half hour for the next one and we loose our reserved seats. So we call the hotel again make a later check in time and then catch the next train. Even the unreserved cars were very nice. They even have a drink / food cart that goes through the train selling stuff. Nevertheless we make it to our stop and finally find our hotel, Hotel Brighton City, Yamashina. You will see pictures of the view from our room which is the train station and our room itself. Our room is decent size by Japanese standards. it has it's own private bathroom with the option of a public bath if we want. I think I will stick to the private. Our bed is on the harder side and the pillows are made of buckwheat. The toilet has a seat warmer, bidet and shower. There is a tea pot and green tea in the room. Oh, the coolest thing is when you come into the room there is a slot on the wall you slide your room key into and all the lights turn on. There are about 10 channels on TV. If you want more you have to purchase a card in the hall way to insert in the box on top of your tv to receive more channels. There are kimono robes in the drawer and slippers in the closet. Just coming into the hotel room is an experience.