Wednesday, May 02, 2007
April 13,
Ah, much more relaxed. After the ‘temple whirlwind’ tour the previous day, today was much more simple. We went out to western Kyoto by JR rail and just walked around for a bit. Our first stop was a long bridge over a river and through a park. During the fall, you can see fishermen using cormorants to fish, but for us, it was just a walk over a nice bridge and through the cherry blossoms. We had breakfast at a restaurant and then walked along one of the main streets with some tourist-y shops. I ended up getting my bamboo cup there. It’s pretty neat.
We did check out one temple complex, but just one. The odd thing about it was that the way to the main temple was lined with buildings and we weren’t sure if they were temples, shrines, or just people’s houses. Imagine walking into one to look at the traditional Japanese architecture and seeing someone come out of their shower. We decided to keep our observations at a distance.
We went up to the main temple, and you could either pay to walk through the garden or the building interior. Jess and I opted for the garden, and I’m really glad we did. Everything was in bloom, the sakura (cherry blossoms) were falling, and everything just looked gorgeous. We took our time, sat and talked, and had a really relaxing walk through.
After the temple, bamboo forest! There are a lot of bamboo forests around western Kyoto and we strolled through one just around the corner from the temple. It was very peaceful, especially when the wind started blowing and the bamboo would sway and clack against each other above our heads. Very nice. Lots of young men doing guided tours on rickshaws, too.
We came back on the rail and walked through a department store in Kyoto station. The upper floors mostly sold clothes we didn’t’ want, though I did get a picture of one of the very popular ‘horrible English on t-shirt’ t-shirts that are so entertaining in Japan. The basement was the real home run, though. There were two floors down there devoted to confections. Truly epic. Everything was so elegant and beautiful that I’m not sure you were supposed to eat any of it. Just put it on the mantle and remark on its beauty.
Then, Jess found a bakery and we went nuts. The place is called Andersens, and we would visit this place (it’s a chain) all over Japan. They bake bread fresh in the back rooms and are constantly bringing out fresh loaves. Jess was a big fan of the cheese breads (which lets me know what I need to be cooking more of :) and I got to try some more traditional Japanese breads. Butter rolls: soft and good. French bread rolls, too, with very crunchy exteriors. I also got some plain old sliced bread that was pretty good, too. It reminded me of one of the loaves I’ve made before, but done better, so I know what to aim for.
I like this picture. One of the recurring themes of the trip was: 'aww, kitties!'. We'd stumble across one looking out of someones house and Jess would stop and call. Sometimes they'd let her pet them, sometimes they'd just nervously stare. This one got away.
Oh, and by the way, Hotel Kyoto Costa del Sol was our least favorite hostel. The guy only had hot water available for 2 hours in the morning and two at night, and the beds were just a single, thin mattress on tatami. If I know my futons, there’s supposed to be another layer under the futon. My hip hurt in the morning from sleeping on my side.
And that was pretty much it. Not quite as hectic or traditional as some other days, but dag nabbit, this was our vacation and we got to do whatever the heck we wanted. So there!
-N
Ah, much more relaxed. After the ‘temple whirlwind’ tour the previous day, today was much more simple. We went out to western Kyoto by JR rail and just walked around for a bit. Our first stop was a long bridge over a river and through a park. During the fall, you can see fishermen using cormorants to fish, but for us, it was just a walk over a nice bridge and through the cherry blossoms. We had breakfast at a restaurant and then walked along one of the main streets with some tourist-y shops. I ended up getting my bamboo cup there. It’s pretty neat.
We did check out one temple complex, but just one. The odd thing about it was that the way to the main temple was lined with buildings and we weren’t sure if they were temples, shrines, or just people’s houses. Imagine walking into one to look at the traditional Japanese architecture and seeing someone come out of their shower. We decided to keep our observations at a distance.
We went up to the main temple, and you could either pay to walk through the garden or the building interior. Jess and I opted for the garden, and I’m really glad we did. Everything was in bloom, the sakura (cherry blossoms) were falling, and everything just looked gorgeous. We took our time, sat and talked, and had a really relaxing walk through.
After the temple, bamboo forest! There are a lot of bamboo forests around western Kyoto and we strolled through one just around the corner from the temple. It was very peaceful, especially when the wind started blowing and the bamboo would sway and clack against each other above our heads. Very nice. Lots of young men doing guided tours on rickshaws, too.
We came back on the rail and walked through a department store in Kyoto station. The upper floors mostly sold clothes we didn’t’ want, though I did get a picture of one of the very popular ‘horrible English on t-shirt’ t-shirts that are so entertaining in Japan. The basement was the real home run, though. There were two floors down there devoted to confections. Truly epic. Everything was so elegant and beautiful that I’m not sure you were supposed to eat any of it. Just put it on the mantle and remark on its beauty.
Then, Jess found a bakery and we went nuts. The place is called Andersens, and we would visit this place (it’s a chain) all over Japan. They bake bread fresh in the back rooms and are constantly bringing out fresh loaves. Jess was a big fan of the cheese breads (which lets me know what I need to be cooking more of :) and I got to try some more traditional Japanese breads. Butter rolls: soft and good. French bread rolls, too, with very crunchy exteriors. I also got some plain old sliced bread that was pretty good, too. It reminded me of one of the loaves I’ve made before, but done better, so I know what to aim for.
I like this picture. One of the recurring themes of the trip was: 'aww, kitties!'. We'd stumble across one looking out of someones house and Jess would stop and call. Sometimes they'd let her pet them, sometimes they'd just nervously stare. This one got away.
Oh, and by the way, Hotel Kyoto Costa del Sol was our least favorite hostel. The guy only had hot water available for 2 hours in the morning and two at night, and the beds were just a single, thin mattress on tatami. If I know my futons, there’s supposed to be another layer under the futon. My hip hurt in the morning from sleeping on my side.
And that was pretty much it. Not quite as hectic or traditional as some other days, but dag nabbit, this was our vacation and we got to do whatever the heck we wanted. So there!
-N
Labels: Bamboo, Bread, Japan, Kyoto
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