Weather: partly cloudy 14°C, high 25°C
Accommodation: Sakara Kyoto.
As it was our first full day in Kyoto, we decided to have a fairly relaxed day of wandering. We were able to start the day was breakfast cooked at ‘home’, then headed out by foot. First Eskil and I checked out the canal in our neighbourhood. Eskil loved the stone pedestrian bridges.
There was a couple arriving for their wedding at a nearby temple.
We walked down Higashi Oji Dori to Shijo Dori, then had coffee and a small rest. Then we continued down Shijo Dori, checking out shops and watching people.
We went to Tokyu Hands, as we did all through Japan. We had arrived in Japan with 3 bags – basically a bag more than we needed (we fit one bag into another). So now that we weren’t traveling around the country any more, we felt we could finally shop! I bought a metal teapot for Scott for his birthday, we let Eskil get the fishing game he fell in love with in Hiroshima, we got a clock we had been admiring we bought lots of Midori notebook inserts, etc etc! We didn’t get the strange tin that reminded us of Sweden:
We bought enough that for once we bothered to go to the tax refund counter. It was across the street in a department store, which was an experience in itself. Eskil loves escalators (Eskilators!), but the staff member in charge of the lifts was just too helpful looking
We were given our tax refund and bought some washers, then took a bus to Kyoto Station. I really, really wanted a bus map – but also really, really wanted a toilet. We headed up to the Skyway – an elevated part of the station high above. I found a loo eventually (with a long queue).
In the frantic search for the loo and then admiring the view I didn’t realise there was a ‘Skywalk’, a tunneled walkway. Oh well. Back at ground level I finally hunted down a bus map, then we headed to Starbucks for a rest. Eskil approved.
We took a bus back to our neighbourhood and dropped our parcels off at ‘home’.
Then we headed out to a VERY small and very yummy dumpling restaurant recommended by Tm, who also recommended Sakara Kyoto (and Ryoso Kawaguchi on Miyajima). Recommendations you can trust.
After dinner we headed to the grocery store for mummy and daddy drinks and other supplies, then back home. It had been a busy day.
More photos can be viewed at https://www.flickr.com/photos/cragg-ohlsson/archives/date-taken/2015/10/14/.