Last day in Kyoto

We've been having a wonderful time in Kyoto. There are far more sights to see than can possibly be seen in 4 days, so we've tried to hit a few of the highlights, while balancing them with spending time exploring the city. Today we had a lovely bike ride up the tow path on the Yama River, all the way to the shrine where my brother Keith and his wife Noriko were married. The shrine was bustling with activity, since there is a huge festival being held in two days there.

From there, we biked back down the river, turned East, and went back to Ginkakaju, a temple we'd missed the other day. When we realized it was closed for renovation, we treated ourselves to brown rice profiteroles (yummy), then biked the philosopher's walk. We'd walked it the other day, but I decided that I much preferred it by bike.

Next we went to the Kalaedoscope museum. Yup, there is such a thing, and it's well worth taking a look. I had never realized how many different kinds of kalaedoscopes there are, nor how seriously artists take the form. The best thing about the museum is that they have about 50 on display at any given time, and you can pick them up and look through them all. My absolute favorite was one that you looked through to view ribbons that you rolled and unrolled.

A bit more biking, a bit more souvenir shopping, and now we're cleaning up before going to dinner. Last night's dinner featured the world's biggest bowls of ramen, so tonight we're going for soba. Then we have to pack and face a very long travel day.