Souvenir Day!

Yesterday John and I checked into our new ryokan, which is quite nice. We have the top floor and there are other guests on the bottom floor. They will be checking out today so we’ll have the place to ourselves for a night. It took us a while to find the place, even with the help of a local who guided us around looking at our map, and then finally called the place. It is run by two people. The woman, whom we’ve met, is very nice and speaks very good English. She guided us to some places that might sell Yukata. So, John and I went off to find Yukata and check out the Philosophers Walk. We headed towards the walk first because it was close. Just at the start of the walk was a place called Omen, a noodle shop that was highly recommended. But John wants to blog about that, so he’ll fill you in on the next post.

Then we began our trek down the Philosophers Walk. It was a beautiful pathway following a small river through some shops and by temple after temple. There were lots of street vendors and I even bought myself a hand made coin purse that was made out of old kimono’s and obi’s. It’s beautiful.

After the walk, we found our way to the Kyoto Handicraft center. They had all kinds of local crafts for sale and even had people making things right there in front of you. Apparently you could go to the top floor and make stuff yourself, but we ran out of time. While we were there I found myself a Kimono (cotton) and an Obi. John found a Jinbei, and we found a pair of chopsticks made out of cherry bark. They are a rare find that will be a nice addition when we get our own home.

We spent a lot of time in the craft center but were getting worried about meeting up with Blair and his friends, so we left and found a pay phone. They were supposed to hit Nara early that morninge, while we were checking into our hotel, which is why we didn’t join them. Turns out they didn’t get there till later, and they had just gotten to Kyoto station when we called. So, we headed towards the Subway to meet them at a temple. Well, we found out that there’s a typo in the Lonely Planet guidebook. It listed a subway stop where we needed to go but when we got into the subway, that stop didn’t exist. So, after changing trains 3 times and probably shelling out about 1500 yen for tickets, we got to a stop where we still had to talk 1/2 mile to get where we were going, and part of it was uphill. By the time we got to the temple and found everyone it was basically closing time, so we got to walk through in the dark, and then leave. Was really disappointing as it was one temple we really wanted to see. I guess we’ll hit it next time.

After that they went back to the station to go home so John and I were left on our own for dinner. We went to another yakitori which was recommended in the guidebook. We got there and their menu was very small and contained only meat. No veggies or anything. We were not really all that impressed. So, thinking the same thing, we ate what we ordered and then walked down the street to the other yakitori we’d already been to. They had a much better array of food and a much better atmosphere.

Then it was time to go home. We took the subway home and then crashed.

Today John and I are going to Nara, we’re gonna give it the whole day so we don’t have to hurry. Then we will come home and spend a relaxing evening together.