Kyoto Days 8 & 9

I had been itching to go on a run, but didn't really have an opportunity to do so until after my mom returned home (as I usually did things with her while Ryan was at school). But the first morning after she left, I figured it was finally time to hit the road and get some miles in. And of course, I had to run along Shijo-dori (less than a half mile from Ryan's school), a route I used to walk nearly 20 years ago. It's changed so much, and yet many things still felt familiar.

It was my luck to run on the day they were just starting to construct the floats for the Gion Matsuri (which they do every single year, and appear to do without the use of nails/screws, but I could be wrong).

I ran along Shijo, then up to the Kamo-gawa river...the absolute perfect place for a quiet, occasionally shaded run along the cooler river banks. I wish I had walked along this river when we lived here, but I was only just becoming a walker back then, and I don't think I was really aware of how pedestrian/biker friendly it is (or even if it was back then). All I know is that about five years ago, when we visited with Ryan, I discovered the route and fell in love with it. It was nice to return. Although there was no water along the length of the river, it was easy to run back up to the main street at any time and stop at one of the dozen convenience stores or 50 vending machines to buy water or electrolyte-enhanced drinks. It wasn't friendly to my wallet to have to buy three bottles of these per run, but they were life savers. I would get so drenched from the heat/humidity that my clothes would be plastered to my body within minutes of starting a run.

Wall art located near Gion/Pontocho (think of geisha) depicting Kyoto of past.

My run that day was still pleasant and invigorating (mostly due to excessive caffeine and the surrounding sights). I still got a little lost, despite bringing my wifi and phone along on the run), but it's just what I do, so no biggie.

Once grandma left, Ryan got to 'take over' Grandma's bed! 

We couldn't believe McDonald's was offering a Hawaiian 'delicacy,' the loco moco 'burger'! ;-)

Later that night, we met up with our friends from Kona, Mike & Yuri (my bestie and weekly running partner) at Teramachi. Surprisingly, the boys happened to be a few hundred feet away at their grandpa/uncle's dental clinic once we arrived there, and we soon met up with them. They met us at Ryan's favorite store (the soap one). While I went to have award-winning ramen with the adults, the boys took Ryan downtown to check out their favorite store (Yodobashi).

One of the finished products! A float! This is one of the floats Ryan first stood by five years ago, moments after he bought his first yukata. I recognized it when we ate at the ramen shop, which allowed me to quickly find the original yukata shop I'd been looking for! Score!!! What are the odds Yuri would pick out a ramen shop right next to the one store I'd been struggling to find for days?!

After Mike & Yuri headed back to their hotel, I hopped the subway down to Yodobashi to meet up with the boys and collect Ryan. Because they were not quite down browsing and shopping (Ry spent $23 of his own hard earned cash to buy a phone case he wanted), I amused myself on the massage chairs.

Yodobashi is right near Kyoto Eki, which is lit up at night.

The next day, Ryan and I went back to Arashiyama to meet Mike & Yuri again. I wanted to take Ryan back to monkey park (he could barely remember it from his last visit) and to see some of the same sights my mother had enjoyed a few days prior. And thankfully, because Ryan has a mind of his own, and loves taking pictures, I got to enjoy totally different perspectives of the garden I hadn't noticed on the first visit.

Another added Ryan bonus...he wanted to check out this shop (which ended up being the most delightful sight of the day). I'm pretty sure every charm was hand sewn, so the sheer volume of items was overwhelming.

I never knew how badly I needed hand sewn vegetables of every variety until I saw these. 

Seriously! Where were these when I used to have a play house or a 'store' for Ryan to go to shopping at?! I am very acutely aware of how different our lives could have been if we'd had these in our lives.

The piece de resistance...which I was prepared to sell our home to buy and bring back, but I am pretty sure it was not for sale. Not so alluring of a photo because of the bad lighting, but still impressive!

After the detour into such cuteness, it was hard to go back out into the 95-degree heat, but there was still so much more to see and do and eat before we had to go to school at 3pm for Ryan's calligraphy class.

The famous Togetsu-kyo bridge, over the Katsura-gawa is over 400 years old. It was also recently the sight of some major flooding a few days prior (when we were running through the rain to class), and had been closed. Back in 1997, I used to trek up there and listen to a little old man who looked to be at least in his seventies, playing what I think, was a Chinese harp (zither). Rain or shine, he'd be at the end of the bridge, mesmerizing visitors. At that time, he sold cassette tapes of his music, and I bought one. To this day, my memories of that bridge are tightly connected to his music. Not seeing or hearing him there felt like a bit of a loss. We actually stood in the same area he once played with Mike & Yuri eating soft creams, trying to cool down. 

This river flows down to the town I lived in for three years. I'm told there are many koi in the river, but all I saw were cormorants.

After our hike up the mountain over to monkey park, I was semi-amused and dismayed that Ryan cared not one whit for the monkeys we'd come to see. but only wanted to ride on this zip line at the children's park at the top.

Once at the top, you get to see about 100+ (many are known/named by staff) 'wild' monkeys roaming around, peacefully coexisting with the gawking tourists. You're warned to keep a wide berth around them, avoid crouching to their level or looking them in the eye (its threatening to them). Though we observed these rules, it also meant we could not form any meaningful, long lasting relationships with them. Absolutely zero gazing into the depths of each other's eyes. :-( However, the monkeys will absolutely still greedily eat all eight of your $1 apple chunks in ten seconds flat, if you let them, so there is that. And that works for me!

The views were pretty spectacular, I could even see Kyoto Tower from where we stood. That's the Katsura river we crossed to get to the mountain, winding at the base of the mountain below.

Do let their calm, cute bodies fool you...

Because there is a very specific feeding area for the monkeys, you can casually roam outside and the monkeys (unlike the deer in Nara) do not approach you for food. However, once in the feeding area...they are quite aggressive. The adults appear to have no mercy for their kids and will swipe whatever fruit or veggie you're holding out to a baby and steal it for themselves in a heartbeat (and I can relate to that instinct, but try to suppress it out of shame).

Anyhow, inevitably, one of the adults get peeved at another adult, a child, or the state of the world, and freaks out. This involves him/her shrieking at a high volume, charging after the offending monkey, and a brief chase ensues that semi-panics the new tourists. However, after any stay of longer than 10 minutes, you'll quickly realize it's a somewhat regular occurrence, and become immune to their monkey business (get it, get it?).

Oh hey there. I'm just cruisin', eating about $3 worth of sweet potatoes and apples from these Hawaiian suckers!

The Keifuku station of the Arashiyama line, I believe...showcasing textiles.

Around 2:30, Ry and I had to leave Arashiyama and head back for Ryan's weekly school activity. This one involved dressing the students in yukata for a trip to town to view the parade floats. However, as the school generally doesn't have many children, they did not have a yukata for Ryan. Thankfully, one of the instructor's had a son Ryan's age, who she convinced to come along and hang out with Ryan and gifted him with one of his outgrown jinbei. :-D

Ryan and a few of his classmates headed off to town to enjoy the parade floats