Kyoto slice #3

Slice #3 is other sights, though I don't mean to diminish their significance by grouping it together.

 Roof of Kyoto Station, not actually a good spot to see the sunset.

 Yasaka Shrine (八坂神社)

 Heinan Shrine (平安神宮)

 Old Rohm Theatre building that's now a really awesome Tatsuya bookstore storefront. 

 Fushimi Inari Shrine (伏見稲荷大社)

 Ippodo!! Tried their best gyokuro, did not know that tea could be so umami, mind blown.

 To contrast, % Coffee (arashiyama branch), friend ordered a latte for me, it was very good.

 Nishiki market, quite an overwhelming experience with an overload of choice

 Nijo Castle, learning a bit of the history here gave more context to several mangas that I'm following

 Tora-ya, an exceedingly pleasant experience eating in their outdoors space. Bonus for atmospheric light rain falling.

The rain got heavier by the time I walked to the imperial gardens, no complains aside from it's difficult talking photos while holding an umbrella.

Kyoto slice #2

Slice #2 is temples, which there are an abundance of in Kyoto.

Kiyomizu-dera (清水寺) - I enjoyed walking along the back mountain paths much more than the main temple grounds where there are far too many people in May.

Koda-ji (高台寺) - there are lots of statues to spot

Kennin-ji (建仁寺) - I am so impressed by the garden of this particular sub-temple, thank you Kyotographie for bringing me here. I can only wish to sit on the porch on a lightly raining day, sipping tea. 

 
Ginkaku-ji (銀閣寺) - the moss is gorgeous, but alas too popular of a sight.

Honen-in (法然院) - my favourite spot along the philosopher's path

Tofuku-ji (東福寺) - tentatively my favourite temple grounds, I regretted not sitting here for longer.

Kyoto slice #1

I've been working on my travelogue in analog form these couple of days and is not up to transcribing it online. So have pretty pictures.

Slice #1 are Kyoto's streets, which I love to bits. I'd pick walking around aimlessly in Kyoto over any other city hands down, New York included.

 Sannenzaka

 Gion, showing the door to Kyokinana, which you absolutely must visit for their soybean "ice cream"

 

Kamo River, I pretty much have a shot like this for every city I've been to (except Chengdu incidentally, it's hard to make those rivers look pleasant)

The best located restaurants

tpe

Connecting flight to CTU delayed, half day tour returned early, all that worrying for nothing. Since my layover is now ~12hrs, here's today batch of photos.

First stop of the half day tour is the 手信坊 wagashi factory, where we made green bean cakes and sampled a lot of other wagashi.  Ofc I bought some pineapple cakes. 

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The second stop is 清水祖師宮, which most definitely rivals the Vatican in terms of sheer intricacy. Although the larger scale of the Vatican trumps this temple, this can boost that all the wooden members are constructed without nails.

I apologize in advance that all the overall shots of the temple is crappy. Was too busy being in awe, and also more interested in taking photos of all the incense smoke. I also need to brush up on how to offer incense.

pie

Off to Japan in a couple of hours, so here's backlog of all the Toronto and Atlanta food photos.

last week of work involved a lot of eating out, thanks to our executive director visiting and another coworker leaving.

 food + friends back in Toronto, there is much catching up to do

 strawberries on sale = stew with black pepper and cardamon

 newest pasta sauce trick is to add a good chunk of butter (or cream) at the end

 arugula = best veg add-in to pasta. collard greens on the other hand, is really terrible in pasta sauce.

arugula is also good salad veg 

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Stay tuned on facebook for Japan eats :D

till

Currently frantically putting the finishing touches on trip to Japan/China, aka getting my visa last minute and regretting not exchanging USD to JPY before I left Atlanta. Absolutely hating the scrambling, makes the situation feel much worse than it objectively is. At least the expedited visa service is a reasonable price, and I finished my PEY report while waiting at the embassy for 4 hours. But I have no way to rationalize the much better exchange rate from USD, here's hoping the CAD magically increases in value tomorrow.
"orz

Note to future self: moving sucks, have buffer in place at least +/- 2 weeks.

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Otherwise enjoying the greener oolongs as spring finally comes to Toronto.

gate f

A photo of my dimly lit, always cluttered table that I'll never see again. Atlanta's goodbye is very neatly tied up.