On our 1st morning in Kyoto we had a real treat, a western breakfast!! Well, not exactly a western breakfast, but as much of one as we were going to get. Breakfast was served in our room- they came in and folded up and put away the futons and then served breakfast. It consisted of tea, coffee, soft boiled egg, toast, bacon, grapefruit, yogurt and lettuce/tomato/dressing salad. We would have this breakfast two more times, and I thought it was delish!!
Miyuki met us at Tamahan and we headed out for Kiyomizu-dera. To get there we had to walk through a preservation district in Higashiyama and it was fantastic. Old stone paved streets and old tea houses and homes. The roads are lined with craft shops and cafes. There are two streets- sannenzaka (3 year slope) and ninenzaka (2 year slope) that are actually stairways. Local folklore says that if you fall on these stairs, you will have 3 or 2 years of bad luck!!! Yikes!!! So, I took extra care (ya know how clumsy I can be).
After doing the rounds at Kiyomizu-dera, we wandered down to Maruyama Park. {If you want a detailed description of Kiyomizu-dera you may want to read my entry from August} Basically, Kiyomizu-dera is a World Heritage Site and one of the most popular places in Kyoto.
Maruyama Park really showed why Kyoto is so amazing in the spring. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom and people were already staking out places for hanami parties later that night. We, also, walked through the park later at night and it was just spectacular. The trees were lit up and just glowed! There were many, many parties and it was a great atmosphere.
After walking through the park, we continued on to Yasaka Shrine. The main shrine of Gion, it is also very popular. Because it was cherry blossom season, there were food vendors set up all over the place so that people could come and enjoy the blossoms.
At this point I have to say that Kyoto is so different in the spring than in the summer. First of all, it is unbelievably crowded!!! But that is because of the cherry blossoms. And rightfully so, they are breathtaking. At night, we walked the alleys of Gion and the trees were drooping over little streams, their blossoms drifting down to the water. I tried to do them justice in my photos, but you just can't imagine how fabulous they are.
Leaving Gion, we headed to Fureikan, Kyoto's Museum of Traditional Crafts. The center had a great collection and description of all the traditional crafts of the area, from lacquerware to kimono. The purpose of the center is twofold- one, to showcase the traditional arts; and two, to encourage a greater number of people to appreciate the craftsmanship and try the arts themselves. I would have loved to have been able to hit the gift shop, but we were a little behind schedule and getting hungry.
Miyuki took us to the city center for lunch. We ate at Katsukura, which was a cutlet restaurant. I had these HUGE fried shrimp and they were great!! The restaurant was very nice and a little piece of calm in the midst of the chaos of Kyoto.
Last year, Mom took a textile class in the states but the instructor (or instructor's friend) has a studio in Kyoto. So, of course we wanted to check it out. Unfortunately, she was not in Japan at the time, but Miyuki found the studio. So after lunch we walked over to the studio. Unfortunately again, it was empty- there was no exhibit. So that was a bust!! But it was a very nice thought on Miyuki's part to take us there.
Finally, Miyuki took us to Nishiki Market. She had to leave to head home, but she left us there to explore. Nishiki is the area where all the Kyoto chefs go to get their fresh ingredients. The alley was lined with stalls and stores selling everything from squid to tea to seaweed to unidentifiable things! The market was crowded but very interesting. It was covered and at the intersections the roof had stain glass skylights that depicted different scenes in the market area. These were really interesting and I took a series of pictures of them. We stopped and bought some onigiri for a snack later and found a liquor store!! Yippy! We bought some red wine and plum wine.
We all were a little worn down by all the walking, so we decided to head back to the ryokan. In transit, we passed an Excelsior Cafe and of course had to stop for coffee. We, also, realized that we had no cork screw for the wine. We took a slight detour to look for a 100yen shop to purchase one. We finally found one and I got to introduce Mom and Dad to the joy that is the 100yen store. They sell anything and everything there- all for....yep, 100yen!! Fun, fun!
(although in the end the corkscrew didn't help because the cork was dry and just fell apart anyway!)
Back at the ryokan we enjoyed our happy hour of wine and salmon onigiri (rice balls) and tried to figure out where to go for dinner. Scouring the free local Kyoto guide, Mom spied a place that looked promising. It was a yakitori place, which meant meat on a stick, and the ad said that they spoke English! Score!! It was a bit of a walk, but so worth it. The name of the place was Kushya and it was very nice. We had a 7 course dinner with everything on skewers. It was a very fancy yakitori place, done kind of in a western style. The food and wine were great!
Walking home through Pontocho Alley was fun. This is the main entertainment area of Kyoto and had many of the old teahouses in it. Crossing over the river to the Gion area we ran into two friends of mine!! Chris and Lindsay- along with Lindsay's Mom and friend. So crazy!!! They were touring around Japan as well.
Exhausted, Mom & Dad collapsed into bed. I took a nice long bath and watched some CSI Miami before hitting the futon.
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