Climb every mountain…

Kyoto, Japan You heard it here first. I have climbed my last mountain in Japan.

Today we thought we would visit the Arashiyama Monkey Park, where a special breed of monkeys cavort at the top of a mountain. This was one of those sites where the guidebooks say it’s 20 minutes from the base to the top. Ha!!

The mountain top is only 160 meters, or 525 feet high. Doesn’t sound so bad, right? But it’s a very steep cliff with a trail composed of many rocky and winding switchbacks. They wind and they wind…

Our ability to actually make that climb was made possible through the miracle of modern medicine that includes, between both of us, two complete knee replacements and five major heart operations. Don’s smart phone tells us that we did over 11,000 steps and climbed 11 floors. There are some New York City doctors who should be proud of their work on our (very grateful) behalf.

At some point in the day, we reached the summit and got to see the monkeys. There are numerous warnings about not looking them in the eye, not feeding them other than from a designated shed, not getting close, and — by all means — not touching them. Not to point fingers, but there were a number of Italian youth who were not fluent in either Japanese or English, who thought they were playing with kittens.

Fortunately, we did not have to see any of them get their face ripped off.

Then it was back down the mountain. Leaving the monkeys, we saw a group of school children in sweet pink hats leave ahead of us. Once we finally got down to ground zero, we waited for a bus, and here they all came, boarding the same bus.

I didn’t see them on the trail going down, so I am convinced that this place — like all such difficult settings — has a secret VIP elevator somewhere on the premises. It was impossible to think of those 20 or so 4-year-olds scampering up and down that mountain without having lost one or two of them.

Closer to sea level, the next stop was the temple complex of Higashi Hongan-ji. This vast collection of buildings only date to 1895, but it claims to be the second largest wooden structure in Japan. And since we’ve seen what was considered to be the largest wooden structure in the world, namely the castle in Himeji, this must be the second largest wooden structure in the world.

Besides the mere size of these buildings, they featured unusually elaborate carvings and gold leaf decoration. The main prayer hall (no photos allowed) must have been able to accommodate thousands. The site was surprisingly empty of tourists. Instead, they were probably all climbing that mountain to get a glimpse of the monkeys.

There are so many sights to see in Kyoto that, despite spending nearly a week here, we have barely scratched the surface.

Don’s Food Corner

We didn’t have a proper meal today. We grazed.

We kept bumping into French bakeries, of which there seems to be plenty in Kyoto.

All of the bakery items were exceptionally authentic. Almond croissant, baguette (with lots of butter), plain croissant, an apple tart, a cheese-bread roll, a walnut/cinnamon Danish, and a croque monsieur.

All was consumed at a rapid pace at each bakery, leaving no time to take pictures. Don’t tell my cardiologist.