Friday, an excursion to the Miho Museum

Today we decided to go to the Miho museum, a small expedition out of Kyoto. The rain is still holding off, but it is hot and muggy and hazy...they say rain will come tonight, but maybe be cleared by tomorrow. Who knows. Can’t believe we were wearing and grateful for the down jackets not long ago in Tokyo!

Anyway, today entailed a 15 minute train ride to Ishiyama, then you take a bus to the museum. All quite easy. The bus ride was about 45 minutes long through first some urban area then very narrow, especially in a bus, winding roads through mountains and beside rivers and streams, quite spectacular scenery. Then you arrive at this magnificent museum. The architect was I.M. Pei who designed the glass pyramid at the Louvre and also a wing at the National Gallery in Washington D.C. It is hard to describe...light, modern, glass, metal, marble...It is set high up in the mountains surrounded by forest. From the bus stop you walk into the reception pavilion, where you buy tickets and there is a restaurant and shop. Then you walk up a path and through a stainless steel tunnel, over a bridge to the museum itself. The building alone is worth a visit, but there are exhibits of Egyptian, Chinese, Persian, other areas of Asia....all beautifully displayed, signs in English, not so much that you can’t absorb it all...a very good feeling. And today was not too crowded also.. It is I gather rather like the Getty and Frick in that it was the collection of a rich industrialist who donated it to become a museum.

Finished with lunch of udon noodles and tea and now unwinding before dinner (and pre dinner drinks in C and J’s room!!). Tonight we are going back to the Okonomiyaki place we enjoyed before, and will be better at pressing the right buttons on the iPad for ordering!

....Just back from dinner and will add one more photo..great meal, AGAIN!En savoir plus