Final day in Kyoto - March 25, 2016

With a cold day out, and some impending work deadlines, I figured I'd hole up in the house while the family spent another day out and about. They had aimed to go to the national museum in Kyoto; some private event had it closed, so they saw half a dozen craftsmen in the folk and craft museum instead. 

Valerie had found some exciting market to walk through, so they returned, tired and hungry, with bags from the stalls there. Some we recognized - rice balls, snap peas, giant carrots, a yellow pepper. Some was new but super yummy - a mini octopus with its head stuffed with a hard-boiled quail egg (wonderfully seasoned!), crunchy diced fish cubes with a creamy vinegary sauce, crackers with oatmeal or edamame. And the sweets - donuts and tri-colored mochi for me.

It was a feast. The cleaning person had come in the morning, so I had a shower before hiding back upstairs to finish up my afternoon. The family decided to stay hunkered down until we all were ready to go see the castle in Kyoto's light up. 

With three layers and two pairs of socks on, as well as a hat that I serendipitously bought at Miyajima, I was snuggled up fine as the lights illuminated the couple of trees that had bloomed despite the temperature in the 40s. A barn-type structure housed a concert of traditional Japanese stringed instruments - "a combination between a mandolin and a banjo" according to Dad. The players had metal plucking extensions on their fingers, and would adjust the bridges on their strings between songs. While playing, they would stretch or vibrate a string they were plucking on the side opposite their strum. It sounded very Asian, but yet I was reminded of Christmas music (in the medieval tradition) a few times. 

We had met up with Maria, so made plans to meet her at a rice omelette shop a few stops away. Seven-Elevens are one of the few places American bank cards work, and, since Deanne had no more yen for us, I withdrew enough for us to make it through... Well, dinner apparently, since Deanne hadn't accounted well for that. (There was a second 7-11 for another ATM withdrawal after dinner.)

We found solace from the wind inside a mall by Nijo station. The clean little restaurant had egg cartons decorating its walls - appropriate, since omelettes filled with rice were its specialty. The table had a curry one, a basil-tomato, a bacon-shrimp, a creamy salmon. Valerie and I had bigger plans; the menu also had those giant parfaits Deanne raves about, so we split a "omerice gratin", which was a layer of rice, a layer of egg, the a layer of our topping of choice, eggplant in red sauce. 

I was full after that, and pretty stuffed after our triple decker, banana-topped chocolate parfait came out. It was an easy decision to pack up a few things, then hit the sack.