Ok...so full disclosure, this is about the third time I've attempted to write this post. I was using Tumblr before, for my blog posts, but it kept crashing and completely deleting posts when I was halfway through. Ack!!!!
Anyhow....so I wanted to take a minute, again, to share with you guys some memories of our day trip to Kyoto! Yuri from Eylul Yarns, took time out of her schedule to travel with us and be our guide for the day. We were really grateful and had such a wonderful time.
So, we met up mid-morning with Yuri and took the subway to Osaka Station. We had planned to meet Francoise, of Aroha Knits, here, since she wanted to go up to Kyoto also.
We were able to get seats on the train, luckily, since it was about 40 minutes up to Kyoto. After a few stops, the aisles began to fill up with other travelers. Since we happened to be there during an intense heat wave, even the air con on the train didn't work very well once so many people were on board. But, even so, train travel is so relaxing. We were able to just sit and look out the window at the countryside, letting our minds wander wherever they wanted to go. Then, suddenly, we were there!
Our first stop on our day trip was to go and visit Walnut Shop. Most anyone reading this will know about Amirisu magazine, a stunning knitting publication that is out of Kyoto. A few years ago, Meri had interviewed me for their issue about Nashville. I was really flattered to have tiny little shop front featured, and even still today, many people tell me that they discovered Nutmeg Fibers because of Amirisu! So, it was really great to be able to stop by and see their shop, Walnut Shop: Kyoto, in person.
As I expected, the shop was full to the brim with wonderful fibers, some Japanese cloth fabrics, beautiful samples, and a lot of knitters gathered around a table working on something. I highly recommend making the time to go and visit this shop while you're in Kyoto, because you won't be disappointed!
After spending plenty of time at the Walnut Shop, we decided to grab lunch. Cold noodles, since it was so hot outside. It was the middle of a month of festivals in Kyoto, so there were lots of people walking back and forth in traditional clothes, heading down the side streets towards the street festivals. We, however, headed towards a temple instead. Yuri had told us about it, and we'd never visited one before, so we hopped in a taxi and drove across town to Sho-Ren-In Temple.
This was absolutely the perfect place to visit on such a hot day. We wandered around the temple, sitting in the shade and looking out across the koi pond. Yuri had brought her knitting, I foolishly hadn't, so while we sat and rested, she worked on her project. Next time, I'll be prepared.
Alfie, especially, was really moved by the temple. He really drank in the beautiful nature that was there, and said it was his favorite place to have visited. I think there's a tiny little monk inside him sometimes, always thinking about great things and about how to be more peaceful in this crazy world. I took so many photos, but here are some of the better ones.
Needless to say, when we finally arrived back in Osaka in late afternoon, we were tired and happy. It was a perfect day trip, and I think that the memory of Kyoto will last for a really long time in our minds.
...thanks for reading. I swear, technology gods were against this post since it self-deleted so many times. I feel like I had so many better versions of this written up before, but oh well. At least I got these pictures up finally!
