March | 2023 | Addams in Kyoto

Whew, and it has started! This applies both to the sakura season and to our busy time. It started slowly last week, with one guest arriving on Monday (who is staying with us for 15 nights!), and then we had arrivals on Friday and Saturday, which meant all of the rooms were occupied. Each of the rooms was only occupied by one guest, but each room still has to be set up and then later cleaned whether there is one or two guests. By next Wednesday we will be back to our one guest for breakfast, but we have another two guests arriving that day, then on Friday the real rush begins. So, we have had a slightly lighter start to prepare us, which is helpful!. All of the singles (except our long termer) booked via Booking.com, and only one of the four is a veggie person, so it will be interesting to see what the others say about us in reviews…

On to a slightly more routine topic – the weather. It has been a mix of warm and sunny, often in the low 20s, and cool and overcast/wet days recently, though we did have one more day of snow before the end of February. The sunny days are glorious and make for perfect sightseeing weather. Which we have done a little of recently, thanks to the first guests we had staying here in March.

Just a little snow

The two guests in question first sent us an email in January, asking a few questions about Kyoto, getting here and the availability of food. We often get queries like these, and not just from those who intend to stay with us. Anyway, there was quite a bit of back and forward, and in the end they said that though they usually like to spoil themselves and stay in 4-star+ accommodation, they were so happy with the service and advice we had given them, they had decided to stay with us! We, of course, were a little nervous at this prospect, since we are not a Western style accommodation, having tatami flooring and futon beds. Definitely not high end, more traditional Japanese style.

Based on the above and the fact they had a few issues getting from the airport to Tokyo and getting train tickets, we decided to pick them up from the station. As it turned out, they did have some issues getting from the train to the exit where the pick-up area is. I had gone with Craig to the station so I could go to the exit and keep an eye out for them. As I was standing there, about 10 minutes after they should have been out, a Japanese woman with a baby and pram, approached me and via Google translator asked me “who are you waiting for at 3:30pm?”. As you can imagine, I was both incredulous and bemused that someone would know I was waiting for anybody there at that exact time, especially since there were literally hundreds of people coming and going. So, I said who and that they were Americans, and she rushed off. Before I had a chance to gather myself and go after her, she had disappeared into the crowd.

Some time later, I saw a tall man and a smaller blond woman who, from a distance, looked very like the photo our guests had sent us. I also noticed the Japanese woman with pram nearby. It turns out they had been going in circles (due to some misdirection) and nearly falling over on the escalator to top it off. At some point this woman had become involved in proceedings. Needless to say, we were all relieved to see each other!!! That night we made them dinner (as they had requested) and they insisted we eat with them. After that we were like old friends. On their first day we made some suggestions about things to do in the nearby area, and gave them directions, including a map. Later we found out they had got lost and didn’t find many of the places we had talked to them about.

From then on, we became their personal tour guides. Luckily we had no other guests 😊. We took them out of the city to a large temple, Sanzen-in, famous for it’s moss gardens (among other things) and then to one of my favourite temples, Kurama-dera, stopping for lunch at a favourite restaurant, Yoshuji, for lunch. That night we went into town to go to a shop that has interesting Japanese style clothing and have dinner, neither of which went exactly to plan. We tried to get into four restaurants that serve vegan food and all were either closed, booked out or there was a long queue waiting outside. In the end we decided to go to an old favourite, Engine Ramen and, yes, there was a longish queue waiting outside there too, but we stuck it out.

Snow on the ground still

We took the cable car

Before and after at Yoshuji

After around 40 minutes we were finally seated and they loved the ramen (thankfully). They decided to tell one of the staff (who happens to be one of the owners and knows us from previous visits) that it was Craig’s birthday, resulting in a free drink for him, a sample tasting of another sake for all of us, a sample plate of gyoza (which they are going to re-introduce on the menu) and a small bowl of vegan ice-cream (which was amazing). It seems the ice-cream is also going to be added to the menu. After all this, they sang Happy Birthday. It ended up being a fantastic night.

The next day we took them to Kinkakuji, which we hadn’t been to for quite a few years (it looked amazing, having recently had the gold leaf renewed), and then to Kitano Tenmangu to see the plum blossom. This too we hadn’t done for a while and discovered they had built a viewing platform, at tree top height, which was a real highlight. After this, Craig dropped us off at a vegan restaurant, Café Ren, which was just about to close but they kindly allowed us to have lunch. Craig had to return home to do some prep for next morning’s breakfast. After we ordered our guests decided to get some take-away for Craig, which Craig enjoyed later. That night we cooked them another pre-arranged dinner, their last dinner here.

What’s in the box?

A vegan take on eel… I just had to try it, and it was nice!

We did enjoy looking after them, though a little exhausting. They paid for everything, including some money for petrol, on top of staying in the big room. They told us that this was their first stop on a nine-week holiday, a sort of spiritual journey with Joe taking his relatively new wife to places he had been to in the past (he was in Japan in the 1970s conducting tennis clinics) and to some new places. They really were lovely people and they have invited us to visit them in Texas (a number of times throughout their stay). Not sure how (six cats), or when that could happen…

Before I sign-off, there are just two things more to mention – the first being the great missing shoe mystery. Yes, one of my outside/garden shoes mysteriously disappeared late in February. These shoes are my winter outside shoes, which have fairly thick rubber soles and are lined with fur (fake, of course). Very comfortable, very warm, quite heavy (the rubber) and had only been worn a few times. We have looked around the garden, but there is no sign of it. So, who is the culprit, where did it go and what was the purpose??? Bedding? We have no idea.

The second item is something I saw on-line here a while ago – T-rex racing. People dress in T-rex costumes and undertake a series of races, to find the fastest of them all, and to have a lot of fun. It looks hilarious to watch. I imagine it happens elsewhere in the world, but it definitely is the kind of whimsy Japanese people love.