But Friday after the meetings broke up i high-tailed it out of Otsu to hit Kyoto and meet up with Pants and co. Now to beging the meeting i was to meet her cousin Peter for a drink based on the following description, "Peter has longish hair and glasses and will look a little scruffy." I was unaware of his age, skin color, hair color, height, weight, etc and hoped desperately that her description of me would include more than "Emily will be the girl with brown hair drinking a gin and tonic." Luckily after some trial and error, more involved with me being late and Peter getting lost than our innaccurate physical descriptions, i finally met the prodigal cousin and enjoyed a leisurely Happy Hour before meeting Pants, Philip and David for Indian and wine by the river.
Pants, Phil, David, and Peter
We continued our in depth discovery of Kyoto by climbing up the twelve floors to the top of Kyoto station (turned out they shut down the escalators at night) to enjoy the view and some seasonal apple chu-hi. Then we meandered the streets of Southwest Kyoto with a map not known for its immense detail in order to find our stellar hostel. When we finally arrived after midnight there was already a party in full swing, complete with more free chu-hi and instant japanese friends. Like the junior high school teacher i am i suggested playing the name game, which may have gone over better if there weren't dozens of guests already asleep in the hostel :)
Saturday morning we awoke to toast, instand coffe, and MI:2 in Japanese. Yes. We began marching around the streets in our PJs to find the neighborhood sento, or bath (because of course the hostel didn't have its own shower facilities) only to discover its not open in the morning. We decided ignore our own offensive odors and head out for site seeing, after stocking up on coffee and pastries.
not a good pic but my only group shot
Through the cool November mists we arrived at Fushimi-Inari Temple, a site famous for the pathway of torii that winds 4 km up a hillside. It was absolutely gorgeous - a peaceful forrested mountain embracing the calm and spirituality of the temple. Amidst the cool day and autumn leaves i could even drown out the ever-present babble coming from the direction of David and Phil. Most definately a location on my "must see" list for visitors and somewhere i hope to return.
Plus, many Japanese families were there to have their children blessed in celebration of Shichi-go-san, a coming of age holiday for seven, five and three year olds (literally translated shichi-go-san means 7-5-3). The kids were so adorable, most decked out in traditional robes and a few boys in full suits (though with shorts instead of pants). My new phrase: they're so cute it hurts.
At this point even though we were exhausted we just hadn't had enough of high quality Kyoto fun. We headed north, back into the heart of the city to check out the changing colors in the park surrounding the Imperial Palace. Just as the cool gave way to actual rain we found one of the covered shopping arcades and caffeinated ourselves just enough to survive some shopping. After that it was time for my departure and another night of fun for my visiting friends.
Me and Pants, reliving our nap in the park
In the end, I'm thrilled to remember what Kyoto offers that i so frequently forget - more than foreign food and good bars, its full of places to go, and nooks and crannies to discover further, and continues to be a destination for new and old friends to come together and have fun.
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