We celebrated Patty and Bill's 6th anniversary (belatedly) with a kaiseki lunch at Roan Kikunoi.
We liked sitting at the counter so we could watch them prepare the food. The chef is cutting sea bream fish.
Kaiseki cuisine was created to stimulate the senses, with beauty, fragrance and texture all being important attributes of the food, along with seasonality. This sushi course was served with the “bird cage” in the upper left enclosing the plate of fish. If you look closely, you’ll see matcha noodles shaped like pine needles as a garnish.
Many cooks were needed to create the elaborate dishes.
This course included miso soup, pickles and rice cooked with mushrooms, chestnuts and chicken.
We’ve all been pretty adventurous eaters on this trip. Another day we tried tonkatsu for dinner, which is fried pork. Even though it was well-prepared and tasty, we found it a bit heavy.
Patty surprised us all with her enthusiasm for Japanese beer. Of course, we knew Bill, Pete and Kristina were enthusiasts.
The delicious ramen at Ippudo reminded us of the movie Tampopo, with its quest for the perfect bowl of ramen. As we ate, we encouraged Patty and Bill to open an Ippudo franchise in San Diego!
This is the outside of Sanjusangendo, the longest wooden building in the world at 387 feet. At New Year’s they hold an archery contest here, with contestants shooting arrows the length of the building to a target.
Inside are 1,001 statues of Kannon, the bodhisattva of compassion.
At Koryu-ji temple we saw this beautiful 8th century wooden statue of Maitrya, the future Buddha.
We spent a day in the Arashiyama district. Behind Kristina and Patty is the Oi River.
We took a short boat ride up the river, enjoying the scenery.
We climbed up to Arashiyama Park. These macaque monkeys ate pieces of bananas and sweet potatoes from our hands.
We liked this painting of Bodhidharma at Tenryu-ji.
Here is Pete making his best devil face.
The strolling gardens at Tenryu-ji were lovely.
And they backed up to bamboo forest.
We continued our late morning ritual of eating ice cream cones. Here Bill licks his lips anticipating his Oreo Cookies in Vanilla.
We also continued to celebrate happy hour on Patty and Bill’s balcony. One afternoon Pete fried up some peppers, the green dish at the front – yum!
We really enjoyed our time at our Kyoto apartment hotel. Here the four of us are pictured with our guide Ichino.
We hired Inchino to take us to Nijo Jinya, a 17th century inn. While it looks like a simple two story building, the interior is filled with secret passageways and eavesdropping hideouts!
We booked our train tickets ahead and walked around the huge Kyoto train station.
We traveled by train to Shirahama. Boy, do we have a lot of stuff!
Patty had suggested we include Shirahama on our trip together because she had seen photos of the Engetsu islet with its beautiful arch. It turned out to be a great suggestion.
We were enthused to stay at a hotel with hot springs spa, and we did plenty of soaking. We wore our yukatas whenever we were at the hotel.
Happy hour is even more fun when wearing our yukatas!
We spent three days relaxing and enjoying the natural beauty. We delighted in swimming in this beautiful bay.
We hiked out on sandstone rock formations called Senjojiki, which is said to resemble 1,000 tatami mats.
These cliffs are named Sandanbeki.
Below the cliffs is a huge cave that we took an elevator down into.
Bill looks menacing in Japanese samurai armor.
Inside the cave is Shiofuki rock, which is known for spouting like a whale’s blowhole.
The cave walls behind Pete were incredibly colorful.
This chirashi sashimi dish was delicious, especially the scallops. We noticed that the table next to us had ordered a hot pot that looked fantastic.
We decided to come back the next night for our final dinner in Shirahama.
Bill treated us to dinner. Pete cooked the fish and vegetables in fish stock. The smells were tantalizing.
We each ate many bowls, savoring the leeks, mushrooms and cabbage with the fish. Here you see it’s topped with scallions, gingered daikon and ponzu sauce.
Patty continued to show her enthusiasm for Japanese draft beer.
It was a beautiful full moon while we were in Shirahama. Next we head to Osaka for the last leg of our trip with Patty and Bill.
We liked sitting at the counter so we could watch them prepare the food. The chef is cutting sea bream fish.
Kaiseki cuisine was created to stimulate the senses, with beauty, fragrance and texture all being important attributes of the food, along with seasonality. This sushi course was served with the “bird cage” in the upper left enclosing the plate of fish. If you look closely, you’ll see matcha noodles shaped like pine needles as a garnish.
Many cooks were needed to create the elaborate dishes.
This course included miso soup, pickles and rice cooked with mushrooms, chestnuts and chicken.
We’ve all been pretty adventurous eaters on this trip. Another day we tried tonkatsu for dinner, which is fried pork. Even though it was well-prepared and tasty, we found it a bit heavy.
Patty surprised us all with her enthusiasm for Japanese beer. Of course, we knew Bill, Pete and Kristina were enthusiasts.
The delicious ramen at Ippudo reminded us of the movie Tampopo, with its quest for the perfect bowl of ramen. As we ate, we encouraged Patty and Bill to open an Ippudo franchise in San Diego!
This is the outside of Sanjusangendo, the longest wooden building in the world at 387 feet. At New Year’s they hold an archery contest here, with contestants shooting arrows the length of the building to a target.
Inside are 1,001 statues of Kannon, the bodhisattva of compassion.
At Koryu-ji temple we saw this beautiful 8th century wooden statue of Maitrya, the future Buddha.
We spent a day in the Arashiyama district. Behind Kristina and Patty is the Oi River.
We took a short boat ride up the river, enjoying the scenery.
We climbed up to Arashiyama Park. These macaque monkeys ate pieces of bananas and sweet potatoes from our hands.
We liked this painting of Bodhidharma at Tenryu-ji.
Here is Pete making his best devil face.
The strolling gardens at Tenryu-ji were lovely.
And they backed up to bamboo forest.
We continued our late morning ritual of eating ice cream cones. Here Bill licks his lips anticipating his Oreo Cookies in Vanilla.
We also continued to celebrate happy hour on Patty and Bill’s balcony. One afternoon Pete fried up some peppers, the green dish at the front – yum!
We really enjoyed our time at our Kyoto apartment hotel. Here the four of us are pictured with our guide Ichino.
We hired Inchino to take us to Nijo Jinya, a 17th century inn. While it looks like a simple two story building, the interior is filled with secret passageways and eavesdropping hideouts!
We booked our train tickets ahead and walked around the huge Kyoto train station.
We traveled by train to Shirahama. Boy, do we have a lot of stuff!
Patty had suggested we include Shirahama on our trip together because she had seen photos of the Engetsu islet with its beautiful arch. It turned out to be a great suggestion.
We were enthused to stay at a hotel with hot springs spa, and we did plenty of soaking. We wore our yukatas whenever we were at the hotel.
Happy hour is even more fun when wearing our yukatas!
We spent three days relaxing and enjoying the natural beauty. We delighted in swimming in this beautiful bay.
We hiked out on sandstone rock formations called Senjojiki, which is said to resemble 1,000 tatami mats.
These cliffs are named Sandanbeki.
Below the cliffs is a huge cave that we took an elevator down into.
Bill looks menacing in Japanese samurai armor.
Inside the cave is Shiofuki rock, which is known for spouting like a whale’s blowhole.
The cave walls behind Pete were incredibly colorful.
This chirashi sashimi dish was delicious, especially the scallops. We noticed that the table next to us had ordered a hot pot that looked fantastic.
We decided to come back the next night for our final dinner in Shirahama.
Bill treated us to dinner. Pete cooked the fish and vegetables in fish stock. The smells were tantalizing.
We each ate many bowls, savoring the leeks, mushrooms and cabbage with the fish. Here you see it’s topped with scallions, gingered daikon and ponzu sauce.
Patty continued to show her enthusiasm for Japanese draft beer.
It was a beautiful full moon while we were in Shirahama. Next we head to Osaka for the last leg of our trip with Patty and Bill.
