Kyoto Travelogue

As my children grow more verbal, my ability to write interesting and cohesive sentences wanes. Still, Dave tells me not to allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good. Even though I have no lovely prose to describe Kyoto to you, I will still write.

We left Shanghai on Wednesday morning, the day before the October holiday began. October 1st marks the anniversary of the People's Republic of China, and begins a 5 day national holiday. This year, the Moon Cake Festival happens to fall in the center of those 5 days, lengthening the holiday by another day. As the Chinese governments moves around weekends, this year has provided Thursday - Thursday of holiday, with most people taking vacation next Friday to have nearly 2 weeks of free vacation. Dave was asked to present at a conference in Tokyo over the break, and so we are vacationing in Japan.

We arrived in Wednesday evening, after a plane to Tokyo and 2 trains to Kyoto. We leave for Tokyo via that same train tomorrow morning. Dave's conference begins with dinner tomorrow evening.

Kyoto can be an overwhelming city, chock full of UNESCO world heritage sites, and with beautiful gardens and serene shrines around every corner. Quite literally. One of the most interesting parts of this city is to simply walk the streets. Amid tall buildings coming straight to the edge of the narrow roads, will be an ancient shrine with its simple wooden frame. Kyoto is certainly a city. And as Japan is a landlocked and populous nation, its people have learned to build up. Kyoto has shop upon shop, even in the downtown (where we are staying). Every house fronts the street individually, and often with a storefront which clearly dates back over 100 years. But built on top, or filling the next spot may be floors rising up to 6 or 7. It feels very urban, with people walking the streets and biking around town well into the evening. The metro keeps busy and the trains run full. But sometime the city has a peace about it.

Possibly this is just Japan, as opposed to China. China has no peace. The future is breaking into China at a crushing pace, and people are racing to keep up or sullenly being left behind. There is no peace in China.

I find it difficult to remember that within living memory, Japan faced total reconstruction - especially in certain cities. The culture has rebuilt itself relatively recently. But still, these people live moderate lives in the middle class. People seem happy, calm. Boutiques with edgy fashions line the shopping streets, alongside small old shrines and simple fountains.

On Thursday, we explored our neighborhood. We're staying in a ryokan downtown. Ryokans my be Japan's form of a bed & breakfast - the experience is very much like visiting a family member's home. Our family has our own room - with tatami mats on the floor, a low table surrounded by cushions for breakfast or tea, and simple mattress laid neatly on the floor at bedtime. We share communal sink and toilet. And they have the requisite bath - a two room affair, the first for preparing for the bath, the second for both showering to become fully clean and then climbing into the bath. And oh, what a bath! The deep tub is filled to the brim with neatly hot water - so full that it plunges out when you step in. The water remains the same temperature throughout the bath, and eventually becomes a bit intoxicating.

We walked the local streets, explored a small Kaleidoscope museum (fantastic!), picked up bento boxes and headed to the Imperial Palace Park for a picnic. We sat directly on the grass (forbidden in a Chinese park), smelled the trees, and gazed at the blue sky while the girls ran through the grass in their barefeet. We could have stayed for hours. Back to the hotel for naps, and then we walked the other direction in the evening. Toward the city's river, and a small road called Pontocho which borders the river with old shops and restaurants, all lined with traditional Japanese lanterns and looking very authentic.

Friday it rained. This put a strong damper on our plans, but who can sit in a hotel all day? Certainly not two preschoolers, staying in a room where the walls are literally made of paper. So. We took a train to the edge of town to explore what was to be one of the loveliest gardens in Kyoto (descriptions of attractions in Kyoto tend toward strong hyperbole). We explored in the rain, until we were soaked through entirely. Then we just headed out of the garden as quickly as we could. We eventually hit a small restaurant on the banks of the river, empty except for a sleeping cat. The perfect place for two hungry children and two very wet adults. Tempura, noodles and tea fueled us well for the wet walk back to the hotel, where we all napped soundly. A simple dinner, and to bed early.

This morning was lovely, and our last full day in town. Dave had a full day planned. We headed to another shrine, way up on a hill. Luckily, we had brought our double stroller for the entire trip. Japan is wonderful stroller friendly - and not particularly pedestrian friendly. A very fortuitous choice. The shrine was wildly crowded, but the handicap accesible route was quiet and brought us around all of the buildings through a back door of sorts. It allowed wonderful pictures from very differnet viewpoints, and made the walk much more comfortable. The shrine was lovely, with beautiful light and a bright blue sky framing its orange wood frames. Set in the hills and surrounded by trees, the walks around it were lovely if only for the park-like feeling. The shops down the hill were loads of fun, too - and the restaurants, and snack shops filling the girls with free samples.

Back for naps, which no one actually took, leading to a very hard evening for all of us. We headed to the Philosopher's Walk - but en route we all got so tired and hungry that we aborted the attempt, and eventually ended up at a truly lovely little Italian restaurant. Their menu was in Japanese, except for the Italian headings. But the waiter spoke fluent restaurant Italian, and so we had no trouble ordering. They were very kindly helpful, and very generously patient with our girls. And Dave and I relaxed in the setting of a corner bistro, where a table of friends gathered around plates of pasta and bottles of wine. Jealous of the wine, at least our children had stopped yelling.

Tomorrow to Tokyo - and hopefully we'll reach the hotel room in time to grab much a needed nap for our poor Sophia.