We have not adjusted to Japan time yet, so we had no problem waking up this morning. In fact, we woke up every hour or two throughout the night. After getting ready, we went downstairs around 7AM to enjoy some breakfast. Breakfast is not included in our room rate, but we figured it would be easier to eat breakfast at the hotel before we start each day. Having stayed at Courtyards and Hampton Inns all over the United States, I did not have high expectations for the breakfast. I was pleasantly surprised. The spread included a small salad bar, sausages, bacon, scrambled eggs, hash browns, little meatballs, yogurt, fruit, warm pastries, juices, and Seattle's Best coffee. The quality of the food was pretty good for a breakfast buffet, especially the produce, and I'm glad we paid a little extra to get breakfast in the morning. After breakfast, we walked over to the Kyoto Tower Hotel where we met our Sunrise Tour. We were expecting a large tour bus, but instead we rode around in a minivan. Soon after starting our tour, Machiko, our tour guide, mentioned that we typically have 100-200 people on the tour per day during cherry blossom season. Because of the earthquake, tsunami, and the nuclear crisis up north in Fukushima, our tour only had 6 people. Our large tour turned out to be a semi-private tour, and it's sad to see that tourism has taken such a huge hit.
Our itinerary this morning included Nijo Castle, Kinkakuji Temple, Kyoto Imperial Palace, and the Kyoto Handicraft Center. As we rode around, one of the first things we noticed was the cherry blossoms. They're not at full bloom yet, but the ones with flowers, look really nice. As we walked around the grounds of Nijo Castle, Alexis and I took so many pictures of the flowers. Unfortunately, you cannot take any pictures inside. After Nijo Castle, Kinkakuji Temple, and Kyoto Imperial Palace, we stopped off at the Kyoto Handicraft Center. The Kyoto Handicraft Center is a venue of many store outlets that sells lacquerware, samurai swords, traditional clothing, tea sets, etc. The main purpose for our stop here was for lunch. It was another buffet style lunch, and it included curry rice, shrimp nigiri, korokke, little chicken meatballs, hiyayakko, salad bar, etc. Similar to breakfast this morning, it was better than I expected. The quality of the food and preparation is better than most standard sitdown Japanese restaurants in the United States. After lunch, we said goodbye to our four other tour mates, and joined our afternoon Nara tour. During lunch, Machiko asked Alexis and I if we were of Japanese descent. We answered in the affirmative, and mentioned where our families are located in Japan. And since we traveled around a number of historic Kyoto sites this morning, I mentioned to Machiko that a former co-worker told me once that I look like Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first Tokugawa Shogun. In her response, she stated that it was because I have a round face. I was hoping in her response, she would say, that I did not resemble him at all considering he was not a very attractive person. 
Our Nara afternoon tour was on a large bus, but, we only had 14 people. We boarded the bus, and drove to Nara, which is a little less than an hour away. The afternoon activities included Todaiji Temple, Kasuga Shrine, and Nara Deer Park. The highlight of this tour included the cherry blossoms and playing with the deer. Unfortunately, a more accurate statement would be to say that the deer played with me. In Nara Deer Park, you can purchase crackers for the deer. As soon as I purchased a pack of crackers, the deer bumped me with their heads and pushed me around until they got their crackers. By the time this tour was over, we were dead tired and headed back to Kyoto. 
Once we got back to our hotel, we went out to dinner. My restaurant recommendations included the Ramen Alley in The Cube adjacent to the Kyoto Granvia Hotel. The Ramen Alley is a food court that is full of a number of different ramen restaurants and each restaurant has a different specialty depending on the region it represents. I picked a restaurant called Hakata Ikkousha This restaurant along with most of the other ones in the alley had the machine outside the restaurant where you order what you want and where tickets come out of the machine. We ate the black tonkotsu ramen. The person outside the restaurant told us it's the garlic that makes the soup base black. It's different than most ramen, but it was pretty good. In addition to the ramen, we ordered chicken karaage and a mini-chahan.
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