Sunday Morning In Kyoto

Several weeks before my trip I made an online reservation for a class to learn to make traditional Japanese sweets at a shop called Yoshiro. I reserved a space for the 9:15 am class on Sunday, March 3rd and received an email confirmation in return.  I was asked to arrive ten minutes early.  I arrived twenty minutes early and waited.  And waited.  Finally, a store clerk arrived at 9:30 am and told me there was no teacher at the shop until later that day.  I showed her my email confirmation with the date and the time, etc. She wanted me to come back another time!  So, I was just out of luck.  I won't be returning to that shop.

I had planned to visit another place after the sweets class and decided to walk instead of taking the train, since I had the extra time.  

Kyoto has many interesting looking shrines and temples everywhere.

I walked along the Nijo Castle grounds. I visited the castle in 2012.

I continued walking and found myself near the Kyoto Imperial Palace. I also visited here in 2012.

Doshisha University looked nice, with an interesting history.

I always marvel at seeing beer sold in vending machines in Japan. Does this happen in other countries?

My next stop was Shimogamo Shrine for Hina Matsuri. That will be my next trip post.

Work In Progress Wednesday-Hand Quilting

I am quilting along the seams and around the items in the pictures. I am enjoying this slow process and feel like I can really finish this before long.

Fujitaya

After visiting Osaka, I took the train back to Kyoto to stay the night.  I found a wonderful guesthouse online, called Fujitaya. It was everything I like in a place to stay - clean, quiet, comfortable, inexpensive, and convenient to the train station. The owner spoke English and the English signage throughout the place made everything very easy to use. 

This was my room - #6.

Downstairs living room area

Breakfast was laid out for guests to help themselves.

Check in area

Monday Morning Star Count - Week 44

Year Two of the temperature quilt  

Week 44

February 24 - March 2  

55, 63, 54, 50, 46, 54, 57

Sarah at Sarah Did It! is continuing to host us on Wednesdays, so please check out the temperatures around the world.  Feel free to join in! 

I am reporting the high temperature each day.  My Year Two temperature/color (Fahrenheit) scheme remains the same: 

100 + Brown 

90-99 Red  

80-89 Orange 

70-79 Yellow  

60-69 Green  

50-59 Blue 

40-49 Purple 

30-39 Pink 

20-29 White 

10-19 Black  

Hokoku Shrine

After visiting Osaka Castle, I went to Hokoku Shrine, which is nearby in the Osaka Castle Park.  This shrine was built in 1879 in Nakanoshima Osaka by the order of the Meiji Emperor. In 1961 it was moved to the current location, overlooking Osaka Castle.

Next, I walked to the Plum Garden.  Many people were out and about, enjoying the beautiful trees in bloom.

Thank You Day

In Japan, March 9th is known as Thank You Day because 3/9 is pronounced San Kyu in Japanese!    Little things like this make me smile.

"San Kyu" for reading my blog!

2019 Cherry Blossom Update

The Cherry Blossom forecast was updated again last week. You can check out all the updates here.

This is the forecast for my area --

Shizuoka

Flowering anticipated date (average year)	3/23 (3/25)
Full bloom the anticipated date (average year)	4/1 (4/3)

This is the forecast for the city near where I used to live in Hokkaido --

Sapporo

Flowering anticipated date (average year)	5/2 (5/3)
Full bloom the anticipated date (average year)	5/6 (5/7)