Evening of August 20th

After Himeji/Osaka

That evening, we made it to the ryokan back in Kyoto. Ryokans are generally a little fancier than your typical hotel. I’ve seen ryokans at 70 000 yen (~$700) per PERSON per night. This does often include meals, and obviously the fancier ryokans have really exquisite meals and associated service. In many cases, a maid/waitress will bring your meal to your room and serve it there. Our ryokan wasn’t that fancy, but was still nice. (and MUCH cheaper) The bath especially was nice after a long day of walking around.

We weren’t expecting to make it in time for dinner anyway, so we only ordered breakfast. But we were hungry when we got there, and asked about nearby eating options that might have vegetarian food. They recommended a ramen shop around the corner (not really vegetarian, but don’t tell L that)! We headed over, but it was closed. Fortuitously, however, the shop next door was open, and the sounds and smells from inside (plus our empty stomachs) drew us in. They had great food, even vegetarian! We especially enjoyed some small tomatoes that had been chilled and marinated in white wine – delicious, but so far I’ve been unsuccessful at recreating the taste! The lady running the shop was really genki, and her English was pretty good. Between her and a businessman (who didn't speak much English, but was happy to talk nonetheless) we really enjoyed ourselves (and they seemed to have fun too). 

After a relaxing bath, we crashed out on our futons. In the morning, we headed down for breakfast, which was really good. Rice, salmon, egg, some salad, miso soup, tofu and other things that I don’t remember. But a great start to the day.