Day 2 was a light-ish day, but I ended up walking a lot. My wife took a break in the hotel while I went off to do the Philosophers Walk trail in NE Kyoto. It’s a pretty trail along a canal that a professor at nearby Kyoto U used to walk while thinking, uh, deep thoughts.
There are several Buddhist templs along the way, I stopped at Honen-in, a particularly quiet one off the beaten path.
I walked back thru a park and Kyoto U, then my wife and I walked thru Gion, the geisha district, which has a huge (and popular) shrine. Also, tons of tourists and shopping.
Needed to go somewhere and sit for a bit and wound up in a little jazz bar / cafe called “forgive me cafe”. Just us and the proprietor, and it was a nice stop.
After that we had dinner at a place overlooking the Kamo river in central Kyoto, Mimasu-ya.
The next day we headed up to Arashiyama to see the bamboo “forest”. Would have been more impressive with less people. Also, today was warmer/more humid, and the air was still among the bamboo.
We also toured Sansou villa, which had a very nice landscape garden and views of the nearby river valley and of Kyoto. Still warm and humid, but with fewer people at least.
We also went to a cat cafe, well, just because. It was also an owl “zoo”. The owls were having none of it.
Liked the prior night’s dinner spot enough that we went back again.
Lastly, came back to the hotel to find this amazing arrangement in the lobby:
The following day was a travel day to Takayama and a ryokan stay.
Out and About 