The distance from our hotel to To-ji Temple is further than to Kyoto Station, in fact well past Kyoto Station. (Anneli's interjection: before we even got close to the market, we stopped at a Sukiyaki dive that caught our eye yesterday. Kevin ordered a spicy pork rice bowl, I got pork with celery. Our meal all together cost a little over 700 yen, which is roughly 7$. Shwing!) We walked along a narrow street as we got closer to the Temple and there were a few people in what looked like garages selling things (garage sale) and I thought "Crap, we walked all the way here for this?" Kobo-san didn't disappoint. as we walked a little further there was a crowd gathered at the temple gates and we hurried across the road to see what we could salvage of this day.
This place was amazing! Think a giant flea market in the middle of an ancient temple grounds, complete with a huge garden with a massive pagoda in the "corner" and, wait for it..... Cherry blossoms!! It could be compared to the Ft. Lauderdale Swap Shop, if you've ever been there. Or a much larger version of Tammelan tori in Tampere. We perused the different booths trying different foods and buying things. I tried real, fresh Dango for the first time and I can tell you that I won't buy it in the store anymore. About midway through our shopping we stopped at a booth with grandma's running it and they sold these great watercolor paintings. We looked for a minute and made our selection and expected to pay and go on our way. When they heard us ask how much, one of the women asked if we were American. Anneli and I looked at each other and said "Yes" and I smiled and said "This is my wife" and these two lady went crazy!! They wanted to shake our hands and were speaking Japanese and all the while I'm sure the look on our faces was priceless. We had no idea what they were saying, we just continued to smile and nod like we knew what they were talking about until we could make our escape.
(Anneli's note: I heard the word "kawaii" which everyone knows means cute! They must have been talking about me... ;D. We also ate some deep fried and sugared potatoes, Kevin tried a grilled rice stick of some kind and some bean dessert?)
Afterward we headed toward the garden and pagoda area to do some picture tanking and be touristy. We walked into the garden and the pagoda was enormous! Of course we took the most pictures of the cherry blossoms and just as we started taking the pictures, the sun broke through the cloud cover for a brief time! It was meant to be I guess. Way to go Kobo-san!!
(Anneli's note: to top it off, they sold green tea and vanilla soft serve ice cream or in Finnish we say pehmis!)
Once we nearly filled up our memory card with pictures we decided to make one last round in the market area and head out to a garden we had past the night before. It was on the way back to the hotel anyway so why not! The garden was beautiful, with little pathways that seemed at first like you shouldn't walk down but when you peek your head around the corner there was more to see. This garden had cherry blossoms too, but somehow not quite as impressive as To-ji Temple garden cherry blossoms. The little stream running through the whole garden area was great. It ran into a very large koi pond and had a very picturesque bridge running over it.
Dinner time was looming by this point, so we decided to head back to the hotel and drop off our days loot and see about going to the International Manga Museum. Turns out that we only had an hour before it closed and we thought we'd need more time then that to fulfill our anime satisfaction (Yes, we are that geeky... See why I married her?).
(Anneli's note: we don't read manga. We watch anime. Anime is far less geeky than reading manga. Much less. Lol!)
Off to dinner we went. We looked and looked and looked....and looked... and looked. Two indecisive people trying to pick a place to go in a foreign country is not a good idea. (Anneli's addition: two indecisive people in a foreign country who are in the mood for different things is not a good idea...) We did eventually find a place thanks to our trusty Lonely Planet guide book. We chose Ganko Zushi as it was relatively nearby and the guide said that it had a large selection with easy to point at menus. =D
Ganko Zushi was a pretty nice place. I was impressed by the ambiance of it all and the fact that the staff spoke English and got us and English menu without having to ask for one (are we really that obvious?). We both got a spread consisting of hand rolled sushi, nori-wrapped sushi, and noodles, plus mine had tempura with it. Everything was really good and about midway through the meal Anneli was eating some of the hand-rolled sushi (nagiri) and she looked a little grossed out after eating one in particular (we still don't know what it was, but it was chewy and slimy she says). She went a bit wide-eyed and her cheeks puffed out and I really thought she was going to lose it right there at the table!! Her cheeks puffed a few more times before she regained herself and spit it out into a napkin, which she then put in her purse to throw away later. Luckily we were able to finish dinner without further incident and we were hotel bound and ready for bed.
(Anneli's note: In my defense, I have never spit food into a napkin before and certainly never thought I ever ever would because it is something you just don't do. However, that said, it was either barf into the udon bowl and probably very audibly, or spit it nonchalantly into a napkin as my eyes are watering and I'm pretending to "blow my nose". I am a texture eater and I can't do soft fish that suddenly has a really chewy, tough bit and starts to get slimy. Nooooo sir-ee-bob!)
All in all a great day from what we thought would be a kind of boring, indoor day. A tip of the hat to you Kobo-san!
(Anneli's side note: We have been meaning to mention the fact that we love crossing streets here. The little man that means pedestrians can walk has a hat on and the sound that signifies it's safe to walk sounds like a bird chirping, not a beeping sound like at home.
Also, we have had some more hits and misses with our vending machine ventures. The other night we got coffee from a machine and I chose the cafe au lait version by WCoffee. Which is pronounced according to me Wah-Coffee and to Kevin Wack-offy. Super sweet coffee. Really, everything here is really really sweet. But it was drinkable. This morning however, on the walk to Kyoto Station and beyond, I chose a "Royal Tea". Sounds normal right? Well nooo, it was a really milky, really sweet "tea" that had a slight aftertaste of butt(hole). Therefore, it shall be dubbed Royal Butt(hole) Tea.
And to those wondering, YES! This is indeed how we entertain ourselves and each other while cruising the town on our excursions! That and people watching of course.)
Thank for reading!
-Kevin (and Anneli)
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