Kyoto Days 13 & 14

As part of Ryan's cultural studies at school, he was given an opportunity to try Japanese calligraphy. He was happy to have the teacher's son come over that day to do it with the class too so that someone his age was there.

After calligraphy class, Ryan and I went to grab veggie ramen with an old friend at our new favorite ramen shop near his school (we went there three times during our stay).

The next day, after dropping Ryan off at school, I went on another run to town (my second and final run of the trip). This time I took a different route, hoping to avoid the craziness of downtown for the day's Gion Matsuri parade. It took me right next to Nijo Castle (near Ryan's school), a place we've visited a few times in the past.

I also ran along the parade route, where thousands of chairs (reserved, paid seating) were already set up and waiting for parade watchers. I asked someone about when the parade would start so that I could try and time my return to coincide with the festivities.

For the most part, I was headed back over to the Kamo river so that I could hear the cool water rushing by and enjoy the silence.

The machiya and tea houses perched over the river...what I wouldn't give to rent a house along that stretch of river in the cooler months!

I was able to coordinate my run so that I could both view the parade as it started, as well as ensure I stayed on a shady route back (it's about 10:30am at this point, as I needed to keep my body temp regulated) to avoid heat exhaustion. It was not nearly as crazy/crowded in this area (a solid half mile or more from the starting point) as downtown, which made it pretty easy to navigate my way through the sidewalks/crosswalks. It was a little crushing at times, but people tend to steer clear of sopping wet, crazy-looking runners.

The best parts of an otherwise sloooow parade are, in my opinion: 1. The vibrant tapestries hanging from the floats. 2. The flute music being played by the parade participants up in the float. And 3. The pulling of the massive, filled floats down the road.

After catching a glimpse of about 3-4 floats, I figured it was time to run back to Ryan's school. Along the way, I checked out the parade viewers- like this class of preschoolers who were pulled there in adorable little carts.

Elementary school kids on a field trip to the parade

Premier, shaded seating! Still 98 degrees, but in the shade!

I spotted this disgusting pile of dead cicadas too. Fascinating, but gross. These are like giant cockroaches to me. They're much bigger than you'd expect them to be.  Perhaps 2 inches long?

Later that evening, Ryan and I hit the town in his new attire in search of fresh yatsuhashi mochi to bring back home for the masses.

We successfully managed to buy about 10 lbs. of yatsuhashi-style mochi for our family and friends from a Duty Free store that night. Had we known the process took 15 minutes of painstaking paperwork on behalf of the clerk, I might not have cared about saving $5-7 in tax and just gotten out of that store earlier. Lugging it home in 90 degree heat? Also, not the most fun in the world, but we were savoring each moment left in the country...as the countdown was on.