Tuesday, June 23, with Perry

Today is our one day in Kyoto. We will return to Kyoto next week, but for now it is just one day.

Because I didn't learn from the last time, I suggested the Philosopher's Path temple walk. In my defense, the first time I walked it a couple years before I was working on about five hours of sleep and feeling subpar because there was the traditional Kyoto meal, and the Westin...it's a long story. Ask me and I'll tell you about it.

Anyway, the Philosopher's Path is still unreasonable. It was ridiculously hot and sunny. I don't even want to address the humidity. The first time I did philosopher's path, I was all about making the best of the situation I put myself in and attempted to enjoy everything, "It's all so new and awesome," and. "It's not worse than Minnesota in July."

It's totally worse than Minnesota in July. I understand that now. I accidentally forgot my umbrella (for both sun and rain) at the hotel in Ueno. Please see my former posts on remembering things. So we were openly exposed to the sun and heat most of the day.

We spent the better part of the day lost and climbing a mountain...because what could be better than doing that in unbearable heat? We climbed Mount Yoshida. We weren't quite sure where were going or what we were doing until we were near the top and smelled temple incense. I am pretty sure this was where I lost the bulk of my weight on that trip.

Perry still seemed refreshed at the top. He walked around the shrine slowly, interested in everything. It was silent and in the middle of the woods. It was perfect to sit in peace and observe the mood. The only sound was the trees and a small breeze that felt nice when we sat down.

Since we took so hidden steps up the hill, we decided to walk down it by a much easier route: the main entrance/exit to the temple.

We found a small restaurant that served very healthy meals. We had our first taste of Japanese egg salad sandwich and we got correct directions to the beginning of our walking tour.

After leaving the hotel at 8:30 AM and arriving at the beginning of the Philosopher's Path at 1:30 PM, We began our 55 minute walk.

Perry has liked collecting calligraphy and stamps in his temple seal book. I think it was a good investment. I think he is aiming to have it full by the time he leaves. It's fun watching his first time here. It has shown me how ridiculously optimistic I was my first time here. It's also awesome to watch people learn and change and be eager to understand the world. It's fun because it is nice to see that someone else enjoys doing the same things I do. I'm not particularly good at anything, but learning is something we can all do together.

We finished our walk about 2 hours later, headed back to the hotel and crashed after having hamburger steak(!) for dinner.