We finally had an easier day today. We intended to start with a visit to Kiyomizu Dera temple near us, but the weather was a bit grey and drizzly, so we headed into central Kyoto instead.
First waypoint was the temple complex of Kennin-ji. It is impossible to go anywhere in Kyoto without seeing temples or shrines - the former are Buddhist, the latter Shinto. There was supposed to be a nice garden at Kennin-ji, but we never found it, though we did come across several delightful sub-temples in the area.
We have been using little backstreets whenever possible. We come across all manner of nice little temples, shops and sights that have often been overwhelmed on the larger busier roads. We dipped into quite a few little antique shops, not with anything in particular in mind, but just to explore what's there.
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| There are hundreds of little eating places like this - the three drapes mean food |
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| The two rooms of this building are no bigger than the van |
Next was the Nishiki Market, and in particular the fresh produce and food sections. Very busy with a lot of tourists both foreign and Japanese. Lots of delicious food on offer, and lovely cooking smells everywhere. We had more important things to do - to find a coffee shop for a nibble and a break. Found a really good one where Karen had her best coffee of the trip, with a coconut cookie and an Earl Grey and chocolate scone. All very nice.
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| Nishiki market |
We were heading back to the Kyoto Museum, which we knew housed an excellent paper shop. Karen wanted a bit more Japanese origami paper, and we were hoping to find a book on ukiyo-e, the Japanese woodblock prints that we have come to like. Didn't quite find what we wanted, but we did enjoy looking through a whole cabinet of ukiyo-e prints that we didn't know they had. Feeling a little peckish by then, around 2pm, so went back through the food market and got some takoyaki balls which were just the ticket.
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| The paper shop at the museum |
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| A gorgeous range of hand-made washi paper |
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| Takoyaki octopus balls being made at the market |
I had looked up a very good bookshop, so we headed there to see what we could find. An excellent range, even in the English-language section, where we found just the book we wanted.
The fine spell which was supposed to arrive at 11am drifted backwards through the day, and only arrived around 6pm by which time we'd done our dash for the day, so we never got to Kiyomizu Dera. A soak in our little tub and we were happy.
