Kyoto, Japan

This is a city to which we will return. It has a fine balance of the modern and the traditional. Six days here was not too much. Nor did rain and mist detract from touring the city. (In a future blog I will cover our visit to the section of Kyoto called Arashimaya and our visit to an Imperial Garden by special permission from the Imperial Household.)

Handicrafts can still be found in Kyoto shops where the craftspeople are working in the back. On the other hand, you can go crazy trying to find an ATM which accepts international bank cards. On a morning when we were running out of money and looking unsuccessfully for a short noren (the curtain which hangs over the entrance to many shop doors), I composed one of the shortest poems in Japanese history:

No yen
No ren.

Mostly restaurants line this old street

Kenninji temple. We stumbled onto this beautiful place by chance.

Part of the garden

One of the paintings

One of the rooms

Another garden

Yet another garden

A procession which took place during our visit.

Exhibit of bamboo gates at the excellent Kyoto Museum of Crafts

The shop where we bought some paintings

It says "Desire no thing" over a picture of a hossu, the whisk which zen monks use to shoo flies - which is also symbolic of mastery over desire and a Zen master's authority to teach Buddhism to others.

Kyoto also has places to satisfy shopping desires such as Takashimaya, whose main information desk is shown here.

Restaurants abound and we had a superb kaiseki meal here after choosing it because it had no English signage. Below are three of the courses. Dessert and a few extras not shown.

Good meals can also be found at family-run restaurants.

Kimonos abound, some on shoppers and strollers

Speaking of desire, Maikos (geishas in training) are also seen frequently. Geishas are not to be confused with prostitutes. They are more like nuns, specially skilled in pleasing men with conversation, song, dance and laughing at jokes which men tell.

I wouldn't go this far but I do intend to return.