Japan day four: Wandering around Kyoto

After the exertions of the previous day’s trip to Hiroshima, we spent Wednesday in Kyoto, taking things at a very leisurely pace. Very leisurely.

Kyoto is such a great place for aimless wandering. So many of its side streets are perfect for a wander, looking in windows and exploring. So many beautiful buildings tucked away. Looking at Kyoto train station – an architectural abomination – it’s easy to forget how beautiful some of the other less central neighbourhoods are.

We visited a fantastic tea house – Ippodo – where I enjoyed delicious green tea. Our hostess spoke great English and explained lots of the background to the tea and how it should be made properly. It was a lovely break to just sit and listen, then enjoy the tea.

I’m definitely going to bring some of that delicious green tea home!

I also explored some of the superb stationery stores, including those selling hand-made paper, cards and other craft supplies. Perfect for some gifts. I would have bought a lot more, but I already knew we’d planned a visit to the fabulous Itoya store in Tokyo. The home of excellent Japanese stationery.

We had an early dinner at the same fantastic conveyor-belt sushi house we visited on Sunday. It definitely wasn’t planned that way, but we found ourselves both hungry and next-door to it at the same time. I believe it was meant to happen. Kismet.

Which is what unsaid to myself as I fed delicious morsels into my mouth.

Once again, the weather was glorious. Honestly, we couldn’t have planned this trip any better. Sun, sun and more sun. Which you definitely feel when you’re walking everywhere. But infinitely better than the rain!

Then it was time to get packing for our trip to Tokyo the following morning. A superb few days in Kyoto, somewhere I’ll definitely return to in the future.