Day 13 - Tuesday May 2, 2017 -

After yesterday’s exertions, today will probably be a quiet day. There are two washi (Japanese paper) shops that Anne-Margaret wants to visit; one is not very far, within walking distance of the hotel, the other a bit further away near Kyoto City Hall.

We headed up the road to the first washi store, a few blocks away, where Anne Margaret bought a few items. We then walked through the Nishiki Market and up Teramachi-dori, (stopping on the way for a coffee at Starbucks), past Kyoto City Hall and a couple of blocks further to the other washi shop, where Anne-Margaret bought a few more items. The lady offered to wrap the items – fascinating to watch. Take an essentially flat, square item, put it diagonally somewhere near the corner of the piece of wrapping paper, fold – then fold, fold, fold, fold again, turn over the corner edge, tuck it in, use a one inch long sticker to hold the join in place and voila. That description undoubtedly doesn’t do it justice but it was fascinating to watch; we probably should have bought another item just so I could video her doing it.

Retracing our steps, we found just round the corner a French restaurant (Le Bouchon) that looked to have an excellent menu, very reasonably priced. Although it was only just coming up to noon, the place was already full so, regrettably, no room for us. As we didn’t feel like walking much further, we headed over to the nearest bus stop and caught a bus down to Kyoto Station, where we settled for a drink and a sandwich before heading back to the hotel to do the laundry.

For breakfast, we’ve been eating in the room, based on supplies from the 7-Eleven across the street (yoghurt, croissant etc.). We decided we’d try the hotel breakfast buffet tomorrow morning, so on the way to the basement to do the laundry, stopped at the front desk to buy two breakfast coupons. From the photos, it’s not entirely clear what will be on offer but it looks to be ‘westernised’ (which is not good), so we shall see. Dinner tonight will probably be the hole-in-the-wall place next door. Cheap, cheerful and does the job.