Day 73 - Ancient

If Tokyo is a hyperactive, frantic and fascinating metropolis, Kyoto is its traditional, reserved and sensible older sister. While still very much a modern city in its own right, its back alleys offer a vision of traditional Japan that was hard to find even in the less touristy parts of the capital.

My day started about three hours after Pete’s, who is currently fighting a serious bout of jet lag, which made him wake up around 7am while I slept deeply until eleven. After an outstanding breakfast nearby (probably the best granola I have ever had in my lifetime) we headed towards the first part of our Kyoto Temple Tour. Our first stop was Kiyomizu-dera, a large shrine which provided the typical ambience of a Japanese buddhist temple with the added bonus of exceptional views over downtown Kyoto.

After leading Pete down a path to a hilltop temple, which happened to be closed today, we resumed our trail about an hour behind schedule, meaning most of the places left on our list were closed by the time we get to them. In any case, we still got to appreciate them from the outside while escaping most of the crowds (composed of both The-North-Face-clad-Western and Kimono-wearing-Japanese contributors in roughly equal parts) that engulfed our first stop. For the most part, the persistent rain fitted my expectation of what the scenery would be like in this part of the World, as my idea of the country always featured a surrounding of bustling forests around the concrete jungles of the big cities.

Pete’s early rising required an afternoon nap to keep the levels of energy on a high, and in the meantime I quickly wandered over to the Nishiki Market (which Pete had checked out in the morning) just as most stalls were closing. Once I got back and took a power nap of my own, we headed towards a delightful Gyoza house and then to a craft beer bar, where the conversation eventually headed to my favourite question (“If you knew you were to live a hundred years and got to pick a time and a place to be born, when and where would it be?”) and ultimately led me to learn some pretty cool facts about Pete’s ancestors. A pit-stop at another craft beer place and at a 7-Eleven on the way home does not bode well for tomorrow’s planned early start, but using Pete’s jet lag as an alarm clock it may well be that I will not have a choice.

Cheers,
J-Wowww