City hike to the Higashiyama district

Hostel to Sanjusangendo Temple 1.2 km.
Kyoto National Museum (across the street) to Kiyomizudera 1.8 km (uphill much of the way).
Kiyomizudera to Kongoji (monkey temple) 1 km.
Kongoji to Shorenin 1.4km
Shorenin to Kyoto Crafts Centre  1.7 km
Kyoto Handicrafts Centre to Higashiyama Station 1 km.

Total walked 8.1 km = 5.033 miles. Does not count subway stairs or the last three blocks from Kyoto Station to the hostel.

Woke up, grabbed a shower and walked across the street to grab a carton of apple/orange juice and an egg salad sandwich from the Lawson's. It had rained overnight and was considerably cooler OUTSIDE the hostel, so I sat on the bench out next to the umbrella rack and found out what Anthony Bourdain had raved about. The egg salad was just eggs and mayo, I didn't taste any salt or other seasoning. The bread had the crusts cut off, and it was white and spongy and I got a hint of subtle sweetness out of each bite. I could see it being 3 am drunk food, but it made a perfectly lovely, easy, inexpensive breakfast that didn't test my stomach capacity.

The weather report had been predicting rain, though it looked like it was clearing. After struggling with Google Maps the previous day, I tried an app called MapsMe, which can't seem to play nice with my phone GPS-wise, but if I plug in a starting location and destination, gives up a decent map. Anyway, it was a straight shot due east to the Kyoto National Museum and I wanted to see the "Thirty Six Immortal Poets" exhibition, so off I went, stupidly early because I didn't trust the map and also because I remembered that Sanjusangendo was nearby and I figured I could make a pass through there while I waited for the museum to open.

I seemed to be on the streets with a lot of students headed to school, but it wasn't a bad walk, though pretty humid. The uniformed parking lot attendants where on hand to direct me where I should walk to enter, I paid my entrance and was waved to an area in front of the hall to remove my shoes and put them on a shelf. No photography is permitted inside and frankly I don't know how I'd begin to do justice to the golden ranks of over a thousand different statues of Kannon-bosatsu.

It was early enough that it was reasonably quiet and I stood listening to the chanting of the monk before the Buddha for awhile and made an offering so I could light a candle. Lighting candles was a Mom thing, so I did it. I wandered the gardens a bit and was taking some pictures when I was accosted by three Japanese girls in school uniforms who wanted me to sign their books and let them practice their English. We got a couple photos with one of the girls' cameras and I asked their teacher to take a couple with mine - and when I got home to download, they weren't on here, so I don't know what happened. (Pretty disappointed, they were sweet kids.)

Crossed the street to take in a museum exhibition that was pretty packed for first thing in the morning on a week day, mostly with Japanese. They sent us up to the third floor and we worked our way down from there. The third floor made me feel like a complete illiterate, because it was all poetry texts, either as mounted fragments or on scrolls. Some of the papers were beautifully decorated, and I did look at everything as best I could because it was fairly crowded, as mentioned.  There were several paintings of Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, the "patron saint" of poetry, which were interesting. You could see who was copying previous works, and there were a few depicting him in poses that said, "Stand back, I'ma make a poem." As you work your way downstairs, you are presented with the paintings from the 13th c. Satake manuscript, which was cut up and sold off to collectors in 1919 (!!!!) In addition to the lovely Ono no Kamachi, I got to "meet" Sei Shonagon's father and Murasaki Shikibu's grandfather. There were some amazing picture scrolls from the period as well! The exhibition ends with some Edo period representations of the 36 Immortals, including a painting by Suzuki Kiitsu which looks like quite a party.

Faced with a 2 inch thick museum catalog I was going to have to haul along with the camera and the rain jacket and the wallet full of Japanese coins, I decided not to buy it - I think I can order it online and get it shipped instead. I did buy a museum tote bag (which came in handy) and a couple of fude pens and things.

As l left via the museum gates, the guard insisted on using my camera to get pictures of me standing in front of the Western looking Meiji era pile (which is currently closed for renovations). (Looked at them later, I look sweaty and disheveled, so they aren't getting shared.) Sweet of him to try though. He meant well.

I pulled out my cell phone for a "where am I?" check and figured I could get to Kiyomizudera from where I was pretty easily. I forgot one thing, it's a zoo. I got to one intersection and there was a swarm of young people, a lot of them in rented kimono. Oh, and the approach is uphill. You'll see how crowded it was in the photos, trust me.

I found a little place on the way up, ordered a plate of curry rice and a Coke and managed to eat a decent amount of it. The place was deserted when I went in, but people started coming in while I was sitting there (two of whom sat down at the table next to mine and lit cigarettes - we're so not in California). I continued my slog uphill through crowds of tourists, past an endless variety of sweet shops and ceramic sellers - the street is named Chawan-zaka or Tea Bowl Path. I went up to the top of the stairs just below the shrine entrance and since I'd been there on my last visit and it was teeming, I decided to take one of the other paths downhill. More souvenir shops, more sweets, pickles, and the odd shop selling Buddhist statuary and prayer beads.

I'd read about a shrine called Kongoji somewhere in the neighborhood and successfully found it using the MapsMe app again. It was again packed with girls in kimono and there was no way I was going to get in line for a monkey ball votive, but I did make an offering from my monkeys to theirs at the shrine. I saw a sign pointing the way to Yasaka Jinja shrine in Gion and I was pretty sure if I could get there, I could find my way to the neighborhood we'd stayed in in 2014. So I got a slightly different view of Gion coming from the direction I did. I sat down on the edge of a stone wall to catch my breath and even though I was footsore, I thought I could go further.

Through lovely Maruyama Park, past the massive Chionin, and quiet Shorenin and there I was on Sanjo-dori again! I did kind of want to find the Kyoto Handicraft Centre again - last time, I'd bought some inlaid pendants as gifts for my sisters and Mom and I have been kicking myself that I didn't get something for myself. I cut down a back street until I hit the canal, then paralleled it straight into the Handicraft Centre with no problems. It's a weird place. They have show rooms on two floors in one building and another in the building next door, plus they do classes. I selected a pair of inlay earrings with a gingko leaf design. I ended up buying a tenugui towel and a hand fan in the other building - if it stays like it was today, I want a fan.

Then it was back to the subway station on Sanjo-dori and back here by mass transit.

Not hungry for dinner, but I am drinking plenty of water, so not too worried about it.

Tomorrow, Osaka!

Photos are at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/70104978@N00/albums/72157711448976993