Kyoto In The Spring Time

Our friend Eric Dunham came to Japan and invited us to a wine dinner he was hosting at the Kobe Bay Sheraton. Kim and I decided to make a little trip out of it and headed off to Kansai for the weekend. We got to Kobe on Wednesday evening where we met up with Eric and his fiance Luana for cocktails before the dinner. Dinner was exceptional with Eric talking about each of his wines that was paired by the chef and sommelier. It was unique to me because the wine was paired with Japanese inspired dishes. I found it fun and enlightening. My favorite was a fried foie gras paired with Riesling? I thought it was going to be impossible to enjoy together but I was proven wrong. We finished off the night in the lounge over some nice champagne and conversation.

The next day Kim and I were off to Kyoto. There we booked a room at a traditional Japanese ryokan. Being one of the busiest seasons in Kyoto, Kim found a little place called Ryokan Izuyasu online which the price included a traditional Japanese dinner and breakfast. It is located down a small side street and does not look like much from the outside. I would highly recommend it as it is close to the train station, clean, family operated (which made it genuinely pleasant), and an overall fun experience. We got to Kyoto around noon and check in was not until 4:00 in the afternoon. We dropped our bags off and headed out for some sight seeing.

First let me preface this by saying that the purpose of going to Kyoto (again) was to see the cherry blossoms which were forecast to bloom that week. Kyoto is the most spectacular place to see the cherry blossoms for several reasons: 1) there are many of them 2) you can visit many of the temples and gardens which are amazing when the blossoms are in full bloom 3) you can see many women dressed in traditional kimono walking around (if you are lucky as we were, you might even see maiko with their geisha).

We bought city bus passes which are 500 yen/day (or $5.00). We decided to head to Kiyomizu-Dera first. Because it is the busy season, the buses were packed, but for the price vs. a cab or train, it was bearable. When we finally got to Kiyomizu-Dera, it was already obvious that we were too early for the blossoms. It looked like we arrived a few days too soon... only a few trees bloomed and the rest seemed like they were about to. We made the best of it by taking pictures in front of only the trees with flowers.

Although the cherry blossoms were almost non-existent, the feeling of being in Kyoto during hanami was amazing. The weather was not particularly great as it was cold and did rain a bit, but you could tell that there was a buzz in the air. Japanese get really excited during this time as they have big celebrations in the parks around the city. As I mentioned before, Kyoto can be a very traditional city with many women wearing kimono. Kim and I were fortunate to run into some maiko and of course I had to take a photo with them!

I have to say that it looks like a pain in the ass to get into one of these things... not only are their layers of clothing to wear, but I can't imagine the time it takes to do their hair and put on all that makeup which runs down their back (I only know cause I took a picture... I don't know how far down it goes).

After Kiyomizu-Dera, it started to rain and we had to get back to the hotel for dinner. We walked down some side streets and found a few more trees with flowers. Then called it a day.