When writing this, I was sitting in the window of a cafe in downtown Kyoto, listening to the rain pouring down on the awning above me, seeing people, some wearing kimonos, some western clothing, walk by with their umbrellas. It was very peaceful and much needed after my switching hotels a little while ago and walking a mile carrying the behemoth in the rain…

I’ve checked into a capsule hotel, essentially a hostel with a Japanese twist. Each bed is a little cubbyhole – you go in, feet facing the curtained door. I am actually looking forward to cozying up in there – it’s been a great visit to Japan so far, but I’ve woken up at 6 or 7 every day regardless of when I’ve gone to bed or how much walking I’ve done. My feet hurt! This cafe was just what I was looking for – in the area around the train station, all I could find was Starbucks.

In fact, I’ve had a pretty low-key day. I managed to get my talkatone app to accept an incoming call from the US to my Google Voice number for free, so that was good. And I went downtown to experience a tea ceremony. The place I went seems to be five or six floors dedicated to tea: a shop on the ground floor, banquet rooms on a couple of floors, and a little tea room set up on another floor to show visitors the proper ceremony.

First you wash with a dipper of water, both hands an mouth, before entering the tea house through a tiny door essentially from a crouched position outside onto that posture where you are sitting on your calves, kneeling in a very Japanese way. (Luckily my tea house hostess told me I could sit cross-legged for most of the ceremony. The proper kneeling posture is really tough to maintain! I wonder whether the Japanese just get used to it from repetition?)

The hostess then brought out a sweet called a cherry blossom (Sakkara). After a few more steps in the ceremony, I got to eat the sweet, then watch as my hostess made matcha. After I’d had a chance to drink it, I got to make it myself.

Overall, I’m really glad I got to experience a tea ceremony before leaving Kyoto. It was on my must-do list, and it made more sense to do so in Kyoto than in Tokyo. And for you science nerds out there, I geeked out when I saw a sign for the enzyme company Takara on my way back to the hotel.

Tuesday I went to an even older capital of Japan, Nara, capital in the 8th century.

I first set out to the Heijo palace…site. I didn’t fully realize is that this means it’s an architectural site, and this mean lots of dips in the ground where pillars stood holding up the imperial buildings, but not necessarily much else. The excavation museum and the reconstructed buildings were interesting, but call me a philistine, I’m not that into archeology that I would want to go again. However, I did get to have another pleasant interaction with a Japanese lady who spoke no English but saw me staring intently at the bus map. (We had just come to some railway tracks and I had evidently perked up because I thought I could use the tracks as a reference point on the map. I felt a tap on my shoulder and the lady pointed to where we were – a good thing too, as I was about a Mel off on where we were crossing the tracks!)

I headed back to the center and eastern part of town, which consists of a huge park and temple sprawl called Nara Park. On my way, I stopped at a place where from the menu, I though I could get some sushi for lunch. Once inside, they brought me the English menu and I discovered I was in a restaurant specializing in grilled eel. Oh well, at least it’s very tasty!

I entered Nara Park by the five tower pagoda, and spent the afternoon looking at three of the major temple complexes in the area.

As I approached the park, I passed a pond where turtles were lying out enjoying the sun. On one log, they were actually piled up on each other, there were so many. A few steps later, I saw several deer at the side of the street. After I climbed the stairs to the first temple, I saw a lot more deer, explaining all the deer-related souvenirs I had seen on my walk from the station. In fact, there are vendors all over the park selling “deer cookies”, and the deer come running whenever someone buys a packet. Like deer anywhere who live where humans routinely feed them, they would (on the whole gently) mob you if you had food for them. There’s no hiding it! On the whole, they avoided people food. Most people took it ok, though one cute little tyke ran screaming for her daddy.

The five tower pagoda complex is lovely and gracious, but I was more struck by the next two temples. The second one is where the Great Buddha, the biggest statue in Japan made all of bronze at 16 meters tall, is located. It’s very impressive. The last one is hidden on the hillside, surrounded by hundreds of lamps. It’s peaceful and serene, despite the tourists.

And then back home, footsore and about “templed out”, first pausing for a photo shoot with some deer under a group of flowering trees.

(Pictures to be posted when I have access to a desktop or laptop again.)

I find that it can be tricky leaving time in my day for blogging, what with all the walking and touring I’m doing (it wears you out!) so here we are almost a week after my first day in Kyoto and I haven’t really written much about it. I rather figured it made sense to focus on at least uploading my pictures to WordPress while I had access to a laptop. That access is now, alas, over, so it’s back to using a tiny touchscreen keyboard with a bizarre autocorrect. Typos under these circumstances are not my fault! And now enough wittering on and back to things people would actually like to read about: what I did in Kyoto.

My first full day there had a bit of a theme, due mostly to proximity of the sites to one another: royalty. (I use that term loosely as we are actually discussing an imperial site – the gardens around the Imperial Palace – and one from the shogunate – Nijo Palace.) This was the day both of the cheese curry and the running into a bridal (I think) party with the bride and groom in traditional clothing which I can best describe as looking like the clothing worn by dolls used in the Festival of Dolls (and if you don’t know what that looks like, go look it up!).

The Imperial Gardens made a nice break from the crowds in the station area where I caught the subway; since it was Sunday, the tourists were out in force, and it was rather overwhelming. (As a side note, almost all the tourists were Japanese. After that, I heard a lot of French spoken.) It was early yet for cherry blossoms, but there were some lovely plum and apricot trees in bloom. The wide, gravelled paths of the garden remind me of the French style of public gardens. I wandered all around, relishing the chance to sit in the sun.

Then off to Nijo Palace, known for its Nightingale floors. These are so called because they are built to squeak when walked upon, so nobody can take the ruler unawares. Everyone had to remove their shoes before entering, so there were crowds of stockinged feet tourists walking around looking at the lovely gold paintings. I have to say, taking off ones shoes in the middle of a day of touring can be quite refreshing for ones feet!

That night I returned to the Hanatouro because I had missed the free Meiko (geisha in training) dance the night before. I also wanted more street food, which is much easier on the budget than a restaurant.

I decided to continue the walking theme the next day by walking around downtown the entire morning. It starts with broad, busy streets with major department stores, but pretty quickly you can step down a side street and find a different world. I walked through the covered Nishiki Market and the other covered streets around it (boasting wider roads and more shops than stalls). It was strange to me that it was so quiet at 9 in the morning, but most shops in Japan open at 10 it seems.

I then walked east towards the Gion neighborhood, passing the Ponto-cho neighborhood of atmospheric narrow streets, past other neighborhoods whose names I don’t remember but whose old houses and crooked streets will remain one of my most charming memories of Kyoto. When I exited these neighborhoods, I found myself near the temple of Chion-in. So of course I decided to explore that hilly but lovely complex.

I was ready for a hearty lunch after the temple (hill walking will do that to you) and it was starting to rain. Somehow I found myself back on a street I hadn’t walked down before in Gion, where I saw a Meiko who had just becone a Geisha get introduced around the tea houses. I also had a good meal in the area, though it is certainly a good thing that nobody has ever died from embarrassment. No, it wasn’t the chopsticks this time. It was the fact that my grilled chicken and vegetables were supposed to be mixed into a bowl with a raw egg, the heat from the food then cooking the egg. Well, by the time I got up my courage to ask what I was supposed to do with a raw egg, the food had cooled enough that I just had raw egg on my mixed-in food. I can tell you that I debated the merits of salmonella and general grossness factor versus embarrassment before I called over the waiter to please take the mess I had made over to the grill to cook it more. And he did, and it was delicious. And as you can see, I’m not dead of embarrassment, though it was a close call.

You’d think at this point I’d call it a day, especially since it was pouring by now, but no. I went in quest of things to do indoors, which in this case turned out to be the Handicrafts museum. I thought of all my textile-loving friends when seeing the hand painted and handwoven fabrics and kimonos.

And then I headed to Nishi Temple, which I thought might have an indoor component to it. Since there were services going on, I was mistaken, but this is the temple where I saw a painted wooden gate down a deserted lane behind two temple complexes in the atmospheric rain. It was worth getting wet for.

Then, finally, it was time to head home, with a stop at the 7/11 to pick up convenience store dinner.

Lantern lining the path at the Hannatouro

First magical view of an illuminated temple during the Hannatouro

Stream of humanity – Hannatouro, Kyoto

Stream of Humanity bis

The next temple I came across

More temple goodness

Part of the Hannatouro included ikebana displays

Hannatouro temple roofs

Prayers are written on the cherry blossom cut-outs which are then pasted on the lanterns

A lantern at the Hannatouro

Another ikebana display at the Hannatouro

Broad paths in the Imperial Garden, Kyoto

Flowering fruit tree in the Imperial Palace Garden in Kyoto (not cherry blossoms!)

Plum or apricot blossoms

Flowering fruit tree in the Imperial Palace Garden in Kyoto (not cherry blossoms!)

First view – Imperial Palace, Kyoto

Gate of Imperial Palace, Kyoto

A stately plum (I think!) tree in the Imperial Gardens

Me by the pond in the Imperial Gardens, Kyoto

Sign explaining Shinsenen – hidden garden and shrine near the Imperial Palace and the infamous cheese curry

Shinsenen – hidden garden and shrine near the Imperial Palace and the infamous cheese curry

Shinsenen view from bridge

First view – Nijo Palace, Kyoto

Nijo Palace Entrance. Note the women in kimonos passing by

Nijo Palace moat

Nijo Palace Entrance from inside the gates

Nijo Palace roof detail

Nijo Palace guard station with manequins dressed as shogunate guards

Area inside Nijo Palace

Area inside Nijo Palace

Nijo Palace – into the main building

Nijo Palace close up

Corner Nijo Palace

Nijo Palace – one of the gardens

Nijo Palace Garden from another angle

Heading towards a second complex in the Nijo area

Nijo Palace 2nd palace (different era)

Interesting tree in Nijo Palace grounds

Nijo Palace

View from ramparts onto Nijo grounds

Fruit trees are everywhere! Nijo Palace, Kyoto

Meiko dance when I returned to the Hannatouro

Meiko dance when I returned to the Hannatouro

Meiko dance when I returned to the Hannatouro

Meiko dance when I returned to the Hannatouro

Meiko and me!

Imagine a city where once you go off into the little side streets, you could be 20, 80, 200 years earlier. That’s the eastern part of Kyoto, including Poncho-Cho and the eastern part of the city. It’s an area where Geishas still work, and if you’re lucky (as I was), you might see a Meiko who has just become a Geisha in full costume being promenaded and introduced to each tea house in the area.

Have the luck to arrive in a city in time for the last two days of an event called Hana Touro where the temples on the eastern hill of the city are illuminated after dark and you wander up and down the narrow streets in a stream of humanity, occasionally stepping aside to one of the shops in traditional Japanese buildings to window shop or bit street food like mochi or something like bao.

Picture pouring rain and a deserted passageway between two temple complexes where suddenly you see a painted wood gateway that lets you know why Nishi Temple is a UNESCO world heritage site.

Trek up and down yet more stairs at the lovely Chionin Temple, where you can’t do your tourist thing inside because you have the luck to listen to the monk’s chanting reminding you the temple is an active place of worship.

Do a double take at the train station when you see a Cafe du Monde (next to something called Mister Donut). Starbucks I can see as a world brand, but, really, Cafe du Monde? I might need to try it just to see how different it is.

Be grateful to stumble into things you could never have planned: a Japanese bride and groom in traditional clothing coming out of a shrine in the gardens of the Imperial Palace, a Meiko going through the tea houses, the Hana Touro, being too early for cherry blossoms but still being able to see plum and apricot blossoms in the Imperial Palace grounds.

Realize a hundred yen store in Nishiki (a covered market/arcade of stores) is very much a dollar store, but with chopsticks and cool bento boxes.