Day 3 - Kyoto

 Distance walked: 15km

Today was overcast and cool but at least it has stopped raining.  Still wore the rain jacket.  See comment re "cool".

I planned to have an expensive 800Y breakfast at the boulangerie next to the hotel.  Serving sizes here in Japan are tiny and I was hoping to fill up on stodge.  Sadly they were full so I ended up at a coffee chain place.  I had a toasted ham & cheese sandwich and a mug of coffee.  My sandwich was only a half - i.e. one slice of bread.  After this princely feast I went back to the boulangerie and bought a red bean bun for second breakfast.

I headed off to Ginkaku-Ji temple - which is about 4 1/2 km out of town.  I navigated using a paper map & maps.me plus just heading in the right general direction.  I got there without having to do any backtracking!  Way to go me.

At one point on my trip I was walking past some sort of official residence/consulate/something?  for about 1km on either side were officials of some sort keeping an eye out/watching the traffic while official looking people in official looking cars drove down the street to this fancy official place - plus me in my bright red coat wandering along looking at maps.  At least nobody seemed to have a gun.

I stopped along the canal path for second breakfast before reaching the temple.  I had my bun plus a bottle of (unsweetened - yay!) green tea from a nearby vending machine.  I love the vending machines.  They are everywhere.

The temple is a Buddhist one and was very lovely.  It would also have been very zen except that I arrived at the same time as a group of school children on an excursion.  Generally well-behaved but so many of them.

After that visit I walked the length of the canal path - the Philosopher's Walk - back toward Kyoto.  Along the canal there were ducks and some of the biggest carp I have ever seen, even though the water can't have been more than a foot or two deep.

At the other end of the path is the Narizen-Ji temple.  I climbed the Sanmon Gate - suicidally steep stairs & fantastic views, and also peeked into the temple itself (closed) and toured the meeting/conference (?) room complex.  

I've been a little disappointed in the temples to be honest.  My lack of knowledge about Buddhism, coupled with the lack of signs in English, mean I miss most of the symbolism of what I'm seeing.

All templed out I headed back towards the centre of town.  I looked for somewhere to have lunch but couldn't spot any restaurants or cafes so I ended up getting something from a 7-Eleven (chicken teriyaki with coleslaw - I think, plus a piece of cake).  I ate it setting at a bench outside.  A sparrow came down and sat on my knee (!) to eat crumbs from my cake.  We got into a tug of war over a large piece.  The cheek!

Next stop was the Kyoto Museum of Traditional Crafts - weaving, embroidery, dying, woodwork (Mum would have loved that section), lacquer work and several others.  Very interesting displays but, frankly, I found a lot of the results tacky.  Or to put it politely - not to my taste, either kitsch or overdone.

I then headed back to the boulangerie for afternoon tea.  I'm not sure I will lose any weight on this trip, even with all the walking.  I seem to be eating constantly.  I had a coup of weak, tasteless coffee and a slice of tasteless chestnust cake.  It was actually studded with chestnut halves but had not flavour.  I can't imagine how they managed it.

Finally, I headed back to the hotel and settled into my new room.  This is cheaper than the one I had previously but in some ways I prefer it.  It is slightly smaller and looks out the back not over the street in front - but who cares about the view?  This time I have a double bed rather than two singles.  On balance, this is better.  Plus I have a token for breakfast in the hotel restaurant tomorrow.  It is a buffet.  I will pig out.

Met up with my fellow hikers.  All couples of a certain age.  I feel like they are of my parent's generation but I suspect they are at most 10-15 years older than me.  One couple - Nola & John - are from Perth, Cathy & Bruce - Utah, Vicky & Dave - Seattle and Paula & Doug - Calgary plus Tom the guide and Diane the apprentice.  Diane is an American who was living in the Phillipines with her American husband when the Marcos regime fell and came to Japan as a short term solution and have never left.  They've been here 31 years and have 8 (!) children.  I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

Tom was an academic, which is how he started these walks.  The first was a result of research he was doing into the period.  As he did more expeditions, people asked to come along too.  He has since given up teaching and now does this full time.  This was a wise move.  Teaching is not his forte.

We headed out to dinner at what was apparently a traditional sake bar.  The idea behind these places was you'd go there to drink sake and perhaps nibble on some snacks.  These days they've gone upmarket and the food is actually very elegant.  The place we went to only sold two varieties of sake but had plenty of food.  They had traditional low tables but thankfully a pit under the table to dangle you legs in.  Still not as comfortable as a chairs though.

Tomorrow is our first "hiking" day - which is almost all by train.  Our luggage goes directly to the next inn plus one, so we have to carry our overnight things in our day packs.  There is also only the one bath in our next inn - just big enough for two - so we will have to draw lots for our turn.

Let the experience begin.