Today we planned a day-long tour to get the most our of our last day in Kyoto. We had to catch the 7:20am shuttle from our hotel to Kyoto Station to meet our tour guide, so Margaret and I had to get out to the 7-11 pretty early. We found the selection to be even better. Today for breakfast I had Japanese-style spicy fried chicken and an egg roll. Margaret had some salmon sushi. Once again, a quality breakfast.
Purification ritual
The tour, which was just for our group, covered several sights around Kyoto that it would have been hard to get to on our own. The first stop had us heading up into the mountains that ring the city, to visit the Buddhist Kiyomizu-dera Temple. It features a huge terrace built out of the mountainside, constructed entirely without nails. The views from the terrace, looking out over the forest and the city beyond, were beautiful. To enter the viewing area for the temple itself, we had to remove our shoes and purify ourselves by washing our hands. We weren’t allowed to take photos inside the temple itself, but everything was very ornate and impeccably maintained. Our guide Emiko 
taught us how to throw a coin offering, then perform the correct series of bows and claps while making a wish. (Reflecting on how things are going in the US right now, I think many of us shared a similar wish.) Here we also saw what was to be a constant for the day: huge crowds of tourists. Much like Florence, we were surrounded by people from all over the world come to see the sights of Kyoto.
Our next stop was a Shinto shrine, Fushimi Inari-taisha. It features ten thousand red torii gates that have been erected along a path that winds up and down a small mountain. (Our guide told us that long ago, a businessman who was struggling built the first gate as an offering, and his business then succeeded. Since then, thousands of businesses have constructed their own gates.) You can walk through the gates and see the names of those that constructed them. Most were in Japanese characters, but we saw a few more modern company names sprinkled in. Here and there we saw gates that were falling into disrepair, and were wondering what effect that had on the luck of the business that had built them.
Golden Pavilion
We then went to a restaurant by the river for a buffet lunch. Many of us ate way too much in an effort to taste everything. In many cases I wasn’t sure what I was eating, but most of the time it was very good. The huge restaurant, as well as all the sights we saw, were mobbed with crowds of schoolchildren in uniforms, visiting on field trips.
From the restaurant we walked to the nearby Tenryuji Temple. The best part of this area was the beautifully landscaped gardens. The attention to detail was stunning. We saw several gardeners working on different patches of land, literally pulling out blades of grass one at a
time in order to create the perfect effect. Judy, Margaret, and I spent a fair amount of time wandering the various paths around a pond and across a hillside, even though by then it was raining. The many paths of the garden, and the rain, also allowed us to escape the crowds for a bit!
Next up was maybe my favorite part of the day — the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest. Walking up the path felt like entering a tunnel, with densely-packed, ramrod-straight bamboo trees surrounding us, the background a constant whisper of rustling leaves far above. I would have loved to walk through here alone, but alas, many others clearly felt the same way.
Our final stop was one more temple — the Kinkakuji Temple, known as the Golden Pavilion. This temple is covered in gold-plating, and shines out dramatically behind a large pond. We weren’t 
able to go inside, but the grounds around the temple again were stunningly beautiful and meticulously cared for.
By this time we were pretty wet and very tired, so we unanimously decided to skip the souvenir shop that was supposed to be our last stop of the day. In exchange, we were able to negotiate a drop-off at our hotel, rather than at the Kyoto station. This was a great relief to everyone, as we were ready for a quick dinner and bed. We found our quick dinner at a nearby ramen restaurant — very small and casual, but delicous. Large bowls of ramen cost about $5!
Margaret and I have been gradually making our way through the many amenities provided by our hotel. In addition to the heated toilet seat, robe, and slippers, today we discovered that we have a shoe dryer! This came in very handy after today’s rain.
Our travel day home went pretty smoothly, despite a very early start and extremely long passport-control lines at Logan. Thanks to the Milan airport, we were finally able to try out an airport lounge! We declined to hit the bar at 8am (though some other people had to compunctions), but we did get a nice breakfast, cappucino, and a relaxing place to sit.
Japanese philosophy of making rooms multi-functional. When you wanted to do something in a room — say, eat dinner — furnishings like a table would be brought in from a storage room. After use, they’d be put back, leaving the room empty for another use.
expensive).
bamboo mats to lay our towels on). The palace’s painting and wallpaper were gorgeous, and the atmosphere was quiet and calm since the number of visitors at a time is strictly limited.
large amounts of money that they make afterwards). Some interesting factoids: (1) Geishas in training have to wear their hair a specific way that takes several hours of styling, so they can only get it done once a week. To preserve the hair they have to sleep on these special tiny pillows that looked extremely uncomfortable. (2) Kimono worn by geishas are hand-made and cost $30,000-$60,000 apiece. (3) Men can be geishas, but not in Kyoto. Foreigners can also be geisha, but must be fluent in Japanese. (I think Margaret is considering a second career.) We only caught sight of one actual geisha, sitting in a cab, but the walk through narrow, old fashioned streets and along the river was charming regardless.
After the tour we had to find dinner, and this proved a bit of a challenge. Margaret and I, in search of vegetarian food for her, ended up at a vegan restaurant. It was extremely tiny — 8 seats total along a bar, with the kitchen right behind. I think the whole place was smaller than our hotel room. It was populated almost entirely with Westerners — I don’t
think the Japanese are big on veganism — except for this one slightly drunk Japanese gentleman who hit on Margaret. (His opening line was “You and me — same age!”, which didn’t really get things off on the right foot, since he turned out to be about 80.) The food was amazing and the two women running the place were friendly and kind. It was a very memorable experience.
After all the excitement of the past several days, we decided to take it a bit easier today. We hadn’t planned or reserved anything, and didn’t really have any must-see agenda items. (The biggest attraction here is the Duomo cathedral/museum complex, and we half-heartedly checked for tickets in the morning, but none were available. Given all the art and churches that we’ve seen, no one was too devastated by this.) Bob and I let the girls sleep, and it was a record 11:30 before we made it out of the hotel.
Nadia loves aquariums — so we made that our first stop. It was in a beautiful old building with a cool fountain out front, and — being pretty small and low-key — was the perfect antidote to all the crowds that we’ve been encountering everywhere. We spent a relaxing hour or two strolling through the exhibits and gardens. (One of the coolest things was that in a random corner of the basement, near the bathrooms, we found a gorgeous shell collection — and saw that some of them were from the collections of Linnaeus and Lemarck.) Total cost: 13 euro (about $15) for all four of us.
we didn’t go into, but just the exterior areas were very impressive. (I was tempted to buy tickets for the Panoramic Battlements Walk, but wasn’t sensing a lot of interest from the troops in climbing a bunch of stairs.)
modern, but we found that the area around the Duomo is much more like Florence, but with even more beautiful architecture everywhere you looked. (Despite the crowds, walking was considerably easier because Milan has created actual pedestrian areas, rather than streets that appear to be pedestrian until a random taxi or delivery truck edges by.) It was definitely worth the trip to see the Duomo and all the amazing buildings around it.
tourist track again to find a place for a late lunch. We found ourselves walking through what was clearly a wealthy area of quiet streets and picturesque buildings. At one point we saw a tall wrought iron fence surrounding an area of greenery, with a few people peering inside. To our surprise we found that it was a large enclosed yard full of flamingos. We didn’t see any signs or public access, so we can only assume this was some rich person’s backyard. Eventually we got out of the wealthy area
pastries from a local bakery.
There are clearly many surprises left to be discovered in Florence (like, who, exactly is sitting behind those little doors in the wall waiting to dispense glasses of wine?), but we have limited time here. Today gave us our last few hours of exploring.
our bags for the day (about 18 euro for three bags in an automated locker facility near the train station). Then we headed off to the Boboli Gardens for a pre-planned rendezvous with Nadia.
A few seasons back, our family favorite show The Amazing Race visited Florence and there was a pivotal sequence that took place on a veranda above the city. Nadia was able to locate the site and pointed it out to us — it’s right across the river from her apartment. We have since been trying to get up there, and the Boboli Gardens provided our route. After strolling the upper portion of the gadens for a while — taking care not to follow any appealing trails back down towards the city, we found an exit that was only a five-minute (relatively level) walk to the Villa Bardini, which houses the famous (to us) Amazing Race Terrace.
Before we knew it, we were in the very same place where the Amazing Race contestant — who was a life coach and motivational speaker — came very close to having a complete breakdown because she could not figure out the task of carving a model of Michaelangelo’s David (that guy is literally everywhere you turn in Florence) from a block of plaster. Right behind it was the patio where teammates had to sit and watch the action take place. It’s a coffee shop now.
We reveled in reliving such a momentous event (this particular team wound up eliminated from the race, largely because of what happened on the Bardini terrace). It also has a very nice view of the city.
It’s worth noting now that since we got off the train from Monterosso on Monday, we have not been on any vehicles — with the exception of the ebikes from the tour yesterday. All day, all week, we have been walking around on our own feet. And we have been moving about a fair bit. Our legs and feet are starting to get worn out a bit.
Once back in the hills, even Nadia got a surprise because a special portion of the gardens recently opened up for a month or so. For the second time today, our march up the hill was tempered by such beauty as to lift the spirit and move our feet steadily along. Flowers can do that to a person.
The top of the Iris Garden led directly to Piazalle Michaelangelo, which is the most popular terrace overlooking Florence for people who are not Amazing Race fans. Thankfully, there are stands there selling refreshments, because our Italian sandwiches were salty and the water fountains in the Iris Garden were labeled non-potable.
Then it was time to collect our bags, re-unite with Nadia at the station, and give our feet a rest while we enjoyed a two-hour train ride to Milan.
Nadia suggested that sometime during the trip we Bob and I might like to do some kind of wine tasting tour, while she and Lanie went shopping. It may have been a ploy to get rid of us for the day, but it was a suggestion that we were on board with. I found a winery tour of Chianti (the region of Tuscany that we’re in) by e-bike, and we were sold.
Iacopo was an excellent guide — knowledgeable and funny and friendly — but he was not one to dawdle. A little way outside town we found we’d lost three members of our group somewhere along the way. Our route had had several twists and turns, and apparently they hadn’t kept up. Eventually Iacopo decided that we had to continue on without them. He sent his friend Simone (who was along for the ride and had no affiliation with the tour company at all) back to try to round them up. (“He has a map,” Iacopo declared confidently.)
We stopped at a family winery for lunch and wine tasting. The food, as always, was delicious. The winery also makes olive oil, but apparently this is so labor-intensive that it’s not very profitable. We got to enjoy some with our lunch, though. On the way back we stopped at a couple of viewpoints with amazing views back over Florence (and very steep downhill descents). After we returned to the city we went to another bar for some more wine tasting and snacks. (We declined seconds on the wine, being mindful of the upcoming periously journey back through the city.) Even though I ended up at the very back of the line and there
way over, and they were pretty good even though we accidentally bought still water instead of sparkling water.
We’re still not totally adjusted to European time, and the 8am alarm came early today. We had to be up and about to get to our 9am reservation for the Uffizi museum. Last time we were in Italy you could just pay your money and wander in to any museum you wanted, but these days you need to reserve well in advance. Nadia is in class this morning, but the rest of us managed to straggle out a bit later than planned.
arrangement — just a couple of minutes walk from the center of everything (Uffizi, Ponte Vecchio, Palazzo Vecchio) — and her room had a large open
window looking out over the river. (I will never not be jealous of these Europeans who can have wide open windows with no screens, and somehow no bugs.) Her apartment is also fairly close to the Brandy Melville store, which was a big draw for Lanie. Apparently the Brandy Melville store in Florence has different merchandise than what you can find on the Branch Melville website, or the Brandy Melville Boston store. Looking for Lanie in there was a challenge, because the store seemed to a veritable sea of little Lanies, with long straight flowing hair and white tank tops everywhere you looked.
For the afternoon Nadia joined us for a pasta and tiramisu-making class at a nearby restaurant. We learned some excellent Italian cooking tips from our very skilled and entertaining teacher, though there was also a lot of wine involved so we possibly won’t remember them. We’re not sure whether the ravioli and tagliatelle we were served at the end was actually
what we’d made, or whether they’d immediately thrown that away and given us something made by more highly skilled people, but either way it was delicious.
Cinque Terre has done its best to live up to all our expectations. The town we’re staying in, Monterrosso al Mare, has all the the tourist guides promise — towering cliffs, blue-green waters, 
colorful buildings, copious walking paths. It’s not Monterosso’s fault that we’ve been forced into being preoccupied with a less happy focus — how to reclaim Lanie’s lost luggage.
into a lemon grove. This proved to be a delightful walk along a river with frequent waterfalls, lemon trees overarching the path from the hillsides above. Eventually the path led way, way up the steep hillside, and eventually we got some nice views of Monterosso and the sea in the distance. We were hoping the path would lead back down — and possibly it did somehow — but we hit a fence and a gated road and decided to avoid a potential trespassing situation.
Throughout this time, we’d been checking approximately every 5 minutes for word from the luggage courier. But our emails and calls were going unanswered, and the day was wearing on. After
another email asking them to PLEASE give us advance warning of their arrival, we decided to hop on a train to the village at the far end of Cinque Terre, Riomaggiore. (The train runs every 20 minutes and takes only 11 minutes, so we figured we could get back pretty rapidly if needed.)
Riomaggiore was another lovely little town. There was an area down by the water where you could climb on rocks (or jump off them into the water, if you were adventurous) and take in the views of the brightly-painted buildings rising up the cliffs above. Bob and I were a little more ambitious and wanted to walk to the next town, which didn’t look to be very far. The girls decided to bail on this plan — Nadia’s shin splints were acting up from the morning’s hike, and Lanie was feeling jet-lagged — so they stayed to explore the town and take the train back while Bob and I set off down the path.
We quickly found that to walk the path required both the Cinque Terre card (which was what we’d declined to buy that morning) AND a supplemental payment for this leg of the trail, called the Via di Amore. When we heard the 25 euro per person price tag, we walked away — but then weren’t sure what else to do with ourselves, so decided to grit our teeth and pay it. It must be pretty spectacular, right?
gelato (and checking my phone for word from the luggage courier).
Today it was time to say farewell to Santa Fe, and head off for our last couple of days in Albuquerque. This was heading down in both the literal and figurative sense, as Albuquerque is a couple thousand feet lower than Santa Fe, and correspondingly warmer.
with bright fall colors had taken the place of pinion and juniper. The city itself appears fairly flat, but there are still mountains in the distance everywhere you look.
Our first stop was Petroglyph National Monument, just a little ways outside the city. There are a few different disconnected areas of this park, but we elected to go to the Rinconada Canyon section. We walked through the canyon alongside a steep hillside covered with volcanic rocks, many of which had been decorated with petroglyphs. We learned that in addition to the Native Americans, the early Spanish settlers also copied the technique — so in some cases, it’s not known which culture created a given piece of artwork.
The afternoon turned out to be my very favorite part of the trip. Just outside the city, which is at around 5000 feet, you can take an aerial tramway to the top of the Sandia mountains, at over 10,000 feet. As you can imagine, the ascent is quite dramatic. It reminded me of a similar trip we did in the French Alps, but with a very different landscape.
hike around at the top, then watch the sunset and the emergence of the city lights of Albuquerque. We didn’t get very far on our hike due to the snow, which was several feet deep here. We followed a packed-down path in the woods for a while, but eventually decided that it was becoming too treacherous. So we returned to the safe platforms and viewing areas around the tram to watch the sunset. The views, especially in the light of golden hour, were spectacular — even as the temperature plummeted. We stayed up on the mountain until darkness fell and the twinkling lights of the city emerged. After a delicious dinner at a nearby Vietnamese restaurant, we were both ready for bed.
$5, while the latter, which was larger and much more elaborate, was free.) Both were very text-heavy, so even though the information was pretty interesting, eventually we began to get a bit of the dreaded museum life-suck effect. Fortunately we were able to revive ourselves with a delicious lunch at the noodle house next door.
Turns out they also had delicious street tacos for dinner.
challenged. But we also have a secret ambition to someday compete on The Amazing Race TV show. We know that navigation will be our downfall, so tonight we challenged ourselves to walk back from the town center to our apartment without consulting Google Maps. This was not a particularly impressive feat, given that we were covering ground that we’d been over several times over the last few days, but we still had a few moments of indecision. Fortunately we persevered and arrived back home without incident.