A Perfect Day

Some days are just amazing, and Monday was one of them. We set out for the northwest of Kyoto, to visit the Golden Pagoda and Ryoan-ji. 

The Golden Pagoda was overwhelming for several reasons. It’s a stunning building covered in gold leaf, and situated on the edge of a beautiful pond. It’s no wonder the tourists flock there, and they come in droves, herds, gaggles, you name it. Tons of bus tours, so we had to keep a close eye on Ren, who definitely found the rock paths and duck ponds the most interesting part of our visit. Oh, and the green tea soft serve ice cream, but we all enjoyed that.

Ryoan-ji was the perfect counterpoint to the chaos of the Golden Pagoda. It’s a landscape garden with a enclosed Zen rock garden at its heart, containing 15 rocks that are carefully placed for no discernible reason. The date of construction and the designer are unknown as well. I like the theory that the garden represents a tiger carrying her cubs across a pond. Sit, contemplate, and find peace. If you can, that is, because I made the fatal error of giving Ren slippers that were too big with Winnie the Pooh, so I had no peace. Oh well! Our visit was still lovely, relaxing and calming. 

We were pointed towards a specific restaurant about 15 minutes away for lunch, and Ren fell asleep in the carrier as we walked so we detoured to a giant complex across the street: Ninna-ji. There was no way to walk past the imposing gate without peeking inside, and it turned out to be a wonderful surprise, sparely decorated with tatami mats and brush paintings on screens. All of the visitors treated it with a bit of reverence, and we enjoyed our hushed visit as Ren napped and I sat by a manicured gravel garden overlooking a landscaped waterfall.

We crossed the street back over to Sakon, the restaurant, and were ushered into a private dining room. We decided to splurge on a multi-course meal, and proceeded to have one of the more memorable meals of my life. 

Delicious food presented artistically, great company, meticulous service, and Ren enjoyed some of each course too – devouring ikura, cooked salmon, raw tuna, beef and oranges. We were stuffed by the time we finished, and basically closed down the restaurant. 

Back onto the train after a detour to a playground, and towards a shrine close to where we were staying called Fushimi Inari.  

The shrine is at the bottom of a mountain, and was very colorful to visit with bright orange, white, and gold buildings and thousands of origami cranes hanging alongside prayer boards. 

A temple brochure called the paint color vermilion, but I’ve always thought of that as a red color. I’d call this bright orange! Thousands of these orange Torii march up the mountain, apparently sponsored by individuals and corporations.

We didn’t make it all the way up, which would have taken hours, because we had other goals for the evening: karaoke! Adam indoctrinated us into the Japanese tradition of renting a private room and belting out some classic hits. Ren liked it too, or at least she was kind to us in our efforts. Late night ramen was a fitting end to a long, terrific day.