entry nº 22g // 20180813

[part 7 of an ongoing series]

•it’s the big LAST DAY IN KYOTO today, january 23rd. big TUESDAY, according to my calendar, here. the capsule hotel we’re staying at has a great little kitchen zone with pastries in the morning and an espresso maker. that kind of stuff really just nails it for me, hotel coffee, continental breakfast. there’s just simply something about it.

•another big bike around day, here. we headed up toward the northeast part of the city to see ginkaku-ji, the “silver pavilion.” beautifully landscaped grounds, sand + moss gardens, the actual pavilion itself, which confusingly, name-wise, isn’t silver, and a cool, well, how to describe it?, sand pile shaped (some say) like mt. fuji. words don’t really do it justice in the least, but it’s like, immaculate, in person, and it makes you wonder how they do it? 

•right in that same area of the city is the philosopher’s path, a stone walkway that follows a little canal lined with cherry trees. “philosopher’s path” because a well-known professor of philosophy at kyoto university from the first half of the 20th century used to walk this path every day on the way to work. bright, clear sunny after-rain morning, and i dunno, the vibe here was just so right on the money. fresh air, sunlight filtering through the trees, trickling water down the canal, birds. the path winds through this really charming neighborhood, mostly houses with some little shops, restaurants, and cafes scattered about. 

about midway along, we crossed this sort of old street cart-looking thing parked off to the side of the path, closed in with plastic, looking fairly fallen into disuse, but on closer inspection the thing was filled with cats? all snoozing away w/o a care in the world. they started to wake up as we took a closer look, and a bunch of them hopped out and hit the streets, presumably on the prowl for breakfast. it was strange and captivating and sweet. 

•after that: kinkaku-ji, the “golden pavilion.” big tourist spot. met up with matt over there. this place is actually completely gold, like the name suggests. sits out in the middle of a pond, all shiny and reflective. kinda harder to get into the vibe of this place due to its gold-ness and the amount of tourists there. you know, you go somewhere and everybody’s going nuts taking photos and selfies and whatever and it kind of blows out the vibe, a bit. and after all it’s that vibe you’re looking for, more than any, like, specific landmark or anything, isn’t it? that feeling.