We wrapped up our Japan trip with one last city, Kyoto. We spent several days here after arriving by train from Gero. Katelyn had visited here earlier in her trip but had several things still on her list that she hadn't yet done, plus she wanted to share her favorite experiences with us, so we packed a lot in.
First up, the hotel. Rick booked this one and did a great job finding a place that was convenient and had such a nice "vibe" to it. The best thing about it may have been the bakery located right in the lobby! We started drooling on day 1, and before we left we had eaten there twice!
After we got there we relaxed in the hotel, and by the time we went to find dinner it was almost too late as many places were closing. Luckily we found a little place that had the most amazing food, cooked right in front of you. The cook would make the food and then deliver it to the grill in front of you where it would stay warm as you selected what you wanted to eat. We quite enjoyed it.
The next day we headed out for breakfast, walking to a spot Katelyn had researched (as usual). Even on the way there we were entertained by the ever-present vending machines, and (for me), the pots of flowers. Interestingly, there was not nearly as many "gardeners" in Kyoto as in the smaller towns, but the ones I saw managed to make do quite nicely using pots.
This time we had the added pleasure of meeting Katelyn's friend Molly and her boyfriend Jeremy. Jeremy was working in Japan and Molly had come to visit him, and Katelyn, as she excels at, managed to make arrangements to meet friends even while halfway across the world! Molly and Katelyn were friends in high school and co-captains of the lacrosse team their senior year, and have stayed in close touch through college and their early working years.
One of the interesting things we noticed at this cafe was the color of the eggs. I thought I was quite an expert on eggs, having grown up on an egg ranch, but I had never seen eggs with this color yolks. As one does, I googled it and found out that it has to do with what they feed the chickens. According to my research, they are fed a highly nutritious food which may include carotene, yellow flower petals, or carrot powder. Wouldn't it be fun to feed your chickens different things to see color it makes the egg yolks?
After that, Katelyn had on her list to take us to an authentic tea house, so we walked to the one she had picked out. It was interesting because the man running it had scheduled a friend's art show that afternoon, figuring Monday would be a "dead" time to do it, but he had a full house so was running around trying to serve his customers and get the place ready. He was a French ex-pat, but didn't have time to tell us his story. I'm sure it would have been interesting, though! The process was interesting, you had a whole book of teas to choose from, along with where they were sourced in Japan. You chose your tea, and then he had an elaborate system of making it for you.
Funnily enough, we all tried each other's tea and the one I liked best was Rick's. He had asked for decaf tea, which isn't very common, and ended up getting one made out of guava leaves! Who knew it would be so tasty?
Next up on our agenda was a trip to the Fushimi Inari Taisha shrine. There are many shrines in Kyoto, but this is one of the most famous and is dedicated to the god of rice, Inari. Over the years, it has amassed a large number of vermillion-colored torii gates donated by devotees. It was our "hike" for the day, since there are many steps through the gates to the top. As always, the trip to the shrine was almost as interesting as the shrine itself. As we approached the entrance, there were a lot of food vendors serving typical Japanese delicacies.
One of the other things we saw a lot of on this trip was people dressed in traditional kimonos. It's a typical tourist activity to rent kimonos and wear them for the day. Katelyn had already done it previously on her trip, and said it took over an hour for them to dress you in all the pieces and at the end, it was quite tight. Not the best outfit for the food-tasting she and her friends did later that day! I imagine it also wasn't the most comfortable clothing for the "hike" up the steps, either, since the skirt was quite tight and necessitated small steps. What we'll do in the name of beauty, huh?
The gates along the trail have the donors name and date inscribed, but of course it was all in Japanese so we couldn't read it. I later read that the large gates we walked under had donations between 400,000 and 1,000,000 yen given. There were many smaller gates
along the walk, which were donated by people with smaller budgets. The gates were donated in gratitude for success in business, or for granting wishes that came true.
We noticed a lot of statues of foxes as we made our way through the gates. Katelyn explained that foxes are thought to be Inari's messengers, and many hold the key to the rice granary in their mouth.
What I found interesting along the pathway were the many rest stops and small shops. There were several restaurants, and the ever-present soft-serve ice cream, but also many sold souvenirs or postcards. I always found it interesting to see an American product in the midst of all the Japanese goodies. For instance, in one of the photos below you can see a package of Oreos!
We found it easier to get good pictures the higher up we went, as the crowds thinned out considerably after the first few rest areas. After stopping for photos and rest stops, we finally made it to the top, which we considered quite an accomplishment for the day!
That night we had dinner and crashed. We have a tradition at home of taking selfies with Rick sleeping in the background, so when I got the opportunity I had to take this and send it to Ethan (he's usually the one awake late at night taking the selfie).
The next day we were up and at 'em again, going to the same place for breakfast and then wandering around town for awhile before heading to the Bamboo Forest (another item on Katelyn's list). I took photos of things that caught my eye or seemed funny, here is a random assortment:
Some observations for this day include:
Japanese cars are really small and can fit in really tight spaces
There are a lot of uniformed school kids that are apparently allowed to go on field trips unchaperoned, but they are very well-behaved.
For lunch that day we decided we were tired of typical Japanese faire and opted to get pizza! I know, pizza in Japan?!? It was really quite good, and the toilet in this place beat all the other ones we had experienced in that the place to wash your hands was on the back of the toilet, so the excess water helped fill the tank for flushing. Brilliant!
The bamboo garden was amazing! It was slightly drizzling, so that probably cut down on the crowds. We wandered through and looked up in amazement. In addition to the bamboo, the highlights of the walk were the "peace pole" I spotted along the path, because we have been talking about getting one at the United Methodist Church, and the wisteria "tree" growing in the wild.
On the train trip back we had one of our more memorable rides. The Japanese people were still wearing masks and being very respectful of personal space in general, but on this train all that went out the window. Luckily we had a spot near the front of the train, and I was able to stand right next to Rick. The train started out fairly crowded, then at the first stop more people got on, then again, and again. No one got off because of the direction we were heading, so the train just got more and more crowded. People didn't seem to have any concerns about jamming themselves in at each stop, so by the time we got to our stop we were VERY COZY with the other passengers around us. I couldn't get a good photo because of everyone holding onto the overhead handles, but this will give you a feel for the experience.
That night Katelyn had planned for us to eat at a Japanese place where they serve tapas, known in Japan as izakaya. This is another place where her weeks in Japan prior to our arrival paid off, because she was already familiar with this custom. It's basically a very informal place, where you might socialize after work or with other regular customers. You typically start with a drink, and then order small dishes until you are full. We greatly enjoyed the food. The walk there was also an adventure, and the drizzly environment and busy scene made for some great photos.
The next day Katelyn gave us the job of planning our outings.
We started with a trip to Tully's, our favorite coffee place of the trip. For the first time I noticed one of the things I've often seen while traveling abroad, a food combination that we would think very strange in America. At this Tully's, they sold hot dogs with avocado on them! And, they recommended you drink coffee with it! I know, weird right?
We planned to do the "hop on hop off" bus since we were tired of all the walking, and I was having a hard time figuring out where to catch the closest bus stop since the route seemed to circle the city. While I'm on my phone comparing the bus map to where we were according to google, Katelyn got impatient and just figured it out for us. I think she was having a hard time watching us old folks try to use tecnology. Another example of how helpful she was on this trip, she was a whiz by now!
Using the bus, we made our way to the Golden Pavilion. It was absolutely gorgeous, and we enjoyed the walk through the gardens around the pond that encircles it. The public is not allowed inside, but the photos we got of the outside were amazing!
A photo very like the first one above made the cover of our photo book for the trip, so you can see how special this place was. You can also see that by now, Rick and I are getting pretty good at selfies, but still working on our skills when there is a third person! Also, I could not resist taking a photo of this guy weeding. Much of the ground was moss, but he was weeding the moss! Such attention to detail by all the workers there.
Two other highlights of this stop were Rick's success at the coin toss for good luck. I captured it on this video. One of our dating stories involves Rick tossing a rock over his shoulder into a trash can and how he impressed me when he succeeded not just once, but twice! Even across the world he still has his throwing ability.
The other highlight was the brilliance of marketing. While you see soft serve ice cream everywhere in Japan, only here did they sell it dusted with gold!
After that experience, it was going to be hard to top it.
Next up was the Imperial Palace. This stop was not too impressive to me, partly because there was a lot of wide open space with nothing in it, and we were not allowed inside any of the buildlings. The map was helpful and the signage interesting, but I think I didn't have a full appreciation for the historical significance of this spot. However, I did take a photo of the sign so you can read about it!
As is often the case, I enjoyed the garden as much as the buildings. In this case, I got a glimpse of how the bonsai process works on large trees. There were many, many mature trees in this garden, and one of them was being worked on by 5 different gardeners. With the size of this garden, I bet it's a full time job to keep up with all the trees.
Katelyn was staying a bit longer in Japan, so we spent some time doing laundry, including Rick getting up at 5 a.m. to finish it! We enjoyed the bakery and coffee downstairs, then departed for the train station for our last trip cross-country to the airport. I tried taking photos to capture some of the views we enjoyed, but most didn't turn out well. Here's a sampling.
We split up from Katelyn and took the last train to the airport, and while I had been resisting the call of Starbucks the whole trip I had to try it while still in Japan. Yep! Their mocha tastes the same as in the US.
This trip was very eye-opening to us in many ways. We weren't at all sure Japan was a place we wanted to visit, but with the lure of traveling with Katelyn we took the leap and I'm so glad we did. Not only did we have a great time and new experiences, we did it with our daughter which was much more enjoyable in many ways. We're already planning our next trip back. 2026, right?
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