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| A couple miles of this is never a bad thing. |
The path led to the Silver Pavilion, Ginkaku-ji. The pretty landscaping was covered with the most vibrant, lush green moss.
We ate lunch at a small noodle shop. I had udon and fried tofu in broth. I'm not a huge broth fan, but when in Japan... The noodles were good and the broth was flavorful.
Hubs had beef and rice with an egg.
2 satisfying and warm bowls of food = 1900 Y.
We walked back down the Path of Philosophy to the subway. For me, the Path of Philosophy would qualify as a must-do. As its name suggests, it's beautiful and peaceful, the perfect stroll on which to let your mind wander. The length of the path only takes about a half an hour if you walk at a good clip and don't take any photos. Needless to say, our walk took significantly longer.
As we walked back to the subway, helicopters gradually filled the sky. At one point, I counted nine hovering in our vicinity, though not close by. I thought it was a military exercise, especially since no one on the busy path seemed alarmed by the number of helicopters. We learned later that a man driving a van possibly suffered a seizure and drove through a busy crosswalk in Gion, killing eight people, including himself (his family said he was epileptic, I can't seem to find any autopsy reports).
It was a crosswalk we have passed over a few times along the main drag in Gion and it was immensely sad. I'm glad we weren't in the area when it happened and didn't learn of the tragedy until evening, so it didn't cast a somber cloud over our beautiful day until after nightfall.
We took the subway to Nijo Castle and walked around the beautiful grounds.
Hubs took photos.
I found a bench to journal on, relaxing in the warm sun. It actually felt like spring.
This castle had a great moat.
Castles just don't seem like castles unless they have an impressive moat.
We decided to have sushi at a fancy looking place on Pontocho. We ordered a few pieces of sushi, which weren't spectacular. The best thing we had was a very interesting mixed seafood spring roll covered with roe and sweet and sour sauce. It was unlike anything I've ever eaten.
Not wanting to abuse our last dinner in Kyoto, we left the restaurant with our bellies only half full and decided to go eat at Maruyama Park. On the way across Gion, we crossed the river, a spectacularly romantic sight just after the sun has set.
At Maruyama Park, a giant tree filled with cherry blossoms was lit up at night.
We walked past all the food stands and did our fair share of people-watching. But we were still dreaming about the fried chicken we had last night, so we went back to our beloved itzakaya bar and ordered it again.
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| The best bar in Kyoto. |
This time we also ordered chicken livers.
So good. And the chicken was just as good as we remembered.
Ironically, our last night was the only night we failed to see a geisha walking down Geisha Row. But walking around, we probably saw ten pass by us inside cabs. On the street where we had our first okonomiyaki, a cab stopped and three geishas climbed out. They were much older than any of the other geishas we'd seen, much older than anyone who had performed in the dancing show. These women were geishas for life and I felt honored to watch them gracefully exit their cab.
This honor is the best way I can sum up my emotion towards Kyoto. The sense of tradition is strong here. Though it feels like a modern city, there are signs of ancient tradition everywhere you look, whether it be a small corner, or a shrine jutting up into the sky. I am honored to have been a part of it, if only for a few days.
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