Kyoto by night!

At the hotel, what a surprise. We were able to get this place through Amex travel and it had come up on our Google Gemini efforts as a top notch hotel that rarely has availability. Gemini said grab it if you can. So we did!

We arrived to have someone take our bags and lead us inside to the front desk. There we were invited to sit down while they gave us some hot tea and some hot towels for wiping our hands. Wow, it was really nice! Then they walked us around and took us to our room where they explained the onsite Onsen, the room and the free bar (from 4 to 6 pm)!!! 🥳

It’s a beautiful hotel that combines the charm of a traditional Ryokan with the amenities of a hotel. They have a full garden down the center of the building! The one thing they don’t have, though, is size 12 slippers! I just don’t quite fit here from a size perspective!

We originally planned to eat at the onsite restaurant as it is renowned in Japan for its tempura. Apparently there has been a restaurant on this spot serving tempura for hundreds of years. In the end though, we decided we needed to get out for a walk and Denise had seen a place she wanted to try. It’s run by a Japanese chef who was classically trained in Italy 🤷‍♂️. It’s a much smaller world, what can I tell you. The food was excellent, as has just about every meal we’ve had.

After dinner, we continued to stroll through old town Gion - Think Roswell to Atlanta on a smaller scale - and enjoyed the lanterns lighting the small streets. Most of these are very old houses with quite a few housing restaurants and bars, but some are just dwellings where people live. On top of that, every so often you’d walk past a beautiful old temple or shrine lit up in the night. Talk about a great way to cap off the evening!Read more