Saturday, August 13, 2011

DAY 15: ERIK ALMOST CRIED AT DINNER TONIGHT

i just realized that day 15 of our last trip japan was the SAME day we went to grill miyata for dinner last time too...how perfect! IT WAS JUST AS GOOD THIS TIME AS LAST TIME. read more about it later on in the blog post ;)

and i forgot to show you where we are in the country now! here is where kyoto is located:


we used our adorable teapot in the townhouse this morning! yummy green tea :)

today was super hot. like...wanna die hot haha...but off we went to kiomizudera! it's a water temple, and it's up on a mountain! we walked over from our townhouse and up the mountain we went!

getting higher...

very pretty!


a guy was drawing and i thought that was really neat. i would love to sit here and draw! but, we are limited on time in japan...



beautiful lotus flowers




and lots of garden below



in the main part of the temple




and here is the famous view! when you google kiyomizudera, you will get about 80 variations of this photo haha...that's the city of kyoto below


gorgeous view up there!

when walking back down the mountain, you can hear a bajillion cicadas...and here is one of them! 

we also saw a skink!

he ate a worm! this was right after he ate it haha

this is a waterfall that is separated into 3 separate streams. each stream's water is supposed to have a different benefit, so you drink from the cup of the water that you want to benefit from. 


like i said, it was super hot today, so we used this excuse to get some ice cream on the way back down the mountain ;) i got green tea/vanilla mix, and erik got yuzu, which is citrus-y


closer to our townhouse, we saw another close cicada! i was able to get really close to this one...

for lunch, erik made us this really really delicious beef! we just bought some from the grocery store, and used our townhouse's kitchen!

cute table


YUM!

here are my ojiisan chopsticks that i bought! hahaha i love them so much

 we took a break in the afternoon since it was so hot, but a few hours later it was time to head out again. we were going to walk through shirakawa-minami dori (the "prettiest street in kyoto") before going to grill miyata. it was very close to it, so it was perfect. but first, we saw this! 

GORGEOUS! the sun was setting, and the mountains in the distance looked like a painting. unreal! 

soon we arrived at the prettiest street, and it really was pretty!




no power lines or anything on this street, so i think that adds to why it's so pretty



very traditional




heading back over towards grill miyata, i snapped a few more interesting shots



and here we are! in the basement of the building, is grill miyata. 

here are the starters we got (we also got salad, but i forgot to take a picture! haha). this was salmon

tofu...

delicious corn soup...

french fries...

oh and of course my sho-chu drink haha

and finally...erik's (and my) favorite part...THE KOBE BEEF!

SO. SO. SO. SO. SOOOOO GOOD. i cannot stress this enough hahaha...seriously. if you are ever in kyoto, GO. 


and an orange afterwards. actually, this was a mix of an orange and a tangerine. yummy!

oh and coffee!

we sat and chatted with mr. miyata from 6:45pm - 10:30pm and it was amazing. he speaks amazing english, and he had so much to share. it was fascinating listening to him! we had SUCH a fun time. and he cooks the steaks himself! really so perfect. what a wonderful evening with mr. miyata that we will never forget.

8 comments:

  1. We have skinks in our yard all the time!! We have these really pretty ones with a vibrant blue color on their tale. Very pretty.. and VERY FAST! our dog loves to try to chase them around on the rare occasion she sees them! lol

    And I'm confused..... why did Erik almost cry at dinner? haha

    ALSO! I have a picture to send you! As soon as I get it on my computer! haha. I spotted something in a store and it made me think of you, so I snapped a picture! :)

    Your pictures are amazing. <3 I love them!

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  2. Jacqui you are doing a fantastic blog. Between you and Sarah I have loved following your trips. Kyoto looks like such a beautiful place (I can't wait till November). We are staying 7 nts Shinjuku 1 nt Takayama 7 nts Kyoto 1 nt Miyajima and then last 2 nts back at Shinjuku. I keep adding to my list of must see places every time I read your blog.

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  3. @kati: LOL about your dog and the skinks! too funny! and erik almost cried because he was just so happy LOL!!! he missed this restaurant SO much, and the kobe beef is just amazing. so that's why hahaha ;) and sounds good about the picture! can't wait to see it! :D really happy you like my photos :)

    @sue: thank you so much for your kind words! your trip sounds AMAZING!!!! i've wanted to go to takayama twice now, but each trip it has been hard for me to squeeze it in. you will have the BEST time. so excited for you!!! :D

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  4. ok--we had hot dogs and nachos at a baseball game tonight. had a good time, but your day and dinner certainly had this beat. thanks for all of the beautiful pictures.

    love,
    mom

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  5. nachos actually sound really really good!!!

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  6. Kiyomizudera! I remember walking up that steep hill- wasn’t the hill lined with lots of eateries and shops?

    What beauti ful pictures of the flowers Jacqui.

    Yum, I want some green tea ice cream! And I have never had yuzu flavored ice cream!

    I love your ojiisan chopsticks! How adorable.

    Such beautiful pictures of Kyoto. It rained the ENTIRE time we were there, so we didn’t get to see everything we had planned since we were soaking by mid-afternoon. I love the pictures, and I need to go back and try visiting Kyoto one more time. Where were all the mi-afternoon pictures taken? I recognize that by nighttime, you were in Gion, but before those pictures… where were you? I need to write it down.

    Your dinner at Grill Miyata looks delectable.

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  7. we walked a different way, but yeah, there are a lot of eateries and shops along the way, typically :) part of me wished we would have walked that way instead of the quicker, less distractions route, but i think it would have been similar to mt. yoshino since that had the same thing with all those food places and souvineers. thanks about the flower pics! i loved those flowers!

    bummer it rained for you the entire time in kyoto! yes you must come back! the mid-afternoon pics were taken on shirakawa-minami dori, which is actually pretty close to grill miyata! i think if you google it on maps, it will come up? just a few streets north of the street grill miyata is on. really pretty!

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  8. きれい ですね。

    Everything is so beautiful! The flowers and the houses and the food and even the bugs. lol.

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