Day 3 Kyoto here we come again!

We  got up early and packed our bags and had a brisk walk to the Kyocera Dome this morning, I thought it was a definite must as my second mobile  ( the first had hurtled down the Barron Falls) was a Kyocera hand me down from my dad which lasted until I upgraded to Ruki's hand down. Eric incentive to walk to the dome was the fact that there was a McDonalds! He was not impressed to discover that it was inside the shopping center so no coffee for him! We had breakfast at the place where we had dinner last night. ( in actual fact, reading over yesterday's blog post, i realise that i  completely forgot we had dinner, and had stoppedmy gustational musings at ramen - i think that is when we should have stopped eating - so i had overlooked my interesting hotpot -only ordered because of my attraction to DiY restaurant cooking).i had karaage chicken, coleslaw and egg with miso and rice and Eric had a  cheerio, egg and I think a rissole) .

We caught the JR Train seamlessly to Kyoto that's when the trouble began. Our host had written "catch the Sanjo Line and get out at exit 11" without mentioning that this was on  privately owned railway . After plaguing the volunteers at the information centre it was decided we should catch the subway. ( no mention was made of the oppositions railway line to Sanjo). When we reached Sanjo I saw a sign for the private rail ' The Keihan Line'  so we walked underground to this line then exited there from exit 11 ! Phew exhausting! Luckily there was a vending machine with Eric's favourite milk softdrink so he was as fresh as a daisy.

The rest of the instructions were very clear and we soon reached our next airbnb.  The owner Rina ( a merry young woman) was cleaning and told us she would bring our bags up in 40 minutes when we were due to check In. We decided to take a leisurely stroll to Gion and hoped to see a maiko or geisha. We found our way easily and had  brief shop at Fresca - a supermarket. We bought a great picnic including karaage chicken,  mochi, croquettes, salads and dressings and set off. ( we had been told 7 minutes -but it was more like 20mins. ) I felt like the worst dog owner in the world as i saw the pampered Japanese pooches parading  everywhere!

We were so hungry that we picnicked at the Keihan Railway station which is a gorgeous spot, with artistically laid out gardens, creeks, fountains etc. ( we didnt even look at them , we just unwrapped and ate- we had heated our food at the complimentary microwave at Fresca ). They say everything tastes better in the outdoors and they ( whoever they might be) are right ! Tasteless croquettes and very battery karaage chicken  were wolfed down, i think liberal application of Kewpie and wasabi helped. The crowning glory was the profiterole - much better than the expensive one at Daimaru!

At Gion we tasted many types of ume, pickled, preserved and turned into liquid nectar, but I resisted the urge to buy and we trudged on to the shrine. We didn't really have to walk as there were so many people that we were carried along by the crowd.  Before we went to the Yasuka Shrine, Eric insisted that i showed him our shabu shabu heaven. Once he was content that it was still there we went to revisit the shrine. We didn't stay long as it had a night market and was packed with tours.

We were so exhausted and in need of a real coffee that we relented and stopped at Starbucks, at least here they used milk in their coffee,  Eric ws getting upset with the 15ml sachets of 'rats milk' that he was getting to whiten his coffee.  I had some Christmas frappe which was far too sweet but looked extremely festive. After this we basically crawled home , exploring on the way. Once home I had a tub again ( its too cold t o shower so i fill the teeny tubs right up and cross my legs and defrost with the water up to my chin. After a virtuous dinner of coleslaw with sesame dressing we watched a movie and went to sleep on our mats.