Ryokan Night (His)

We speant last night at a Ryokan in the middle of Kyoto. A Ryokan is a traditional garden hotel where you eat dinner, sleep and eat breakfast in one room. The building in which we we staying was 190 years old. It was a beautiful house that lookes like it could have come straight off the set of ""The Last Samuri".
Above, you can see Anna sitting at our table. The décor was authentic Japanese with tatami rice mat floors and low tables. After we checked in and were shown to our room, we made a reservation for the baths. Traditionally, bathing is done in public baths in Japan, but this Ryokan was used to western modesty, and allows people to set times where they can bathe in private. After our baths, we put on our yukatas (Japanese bathrobes) and waited for dinner.


Dinner was a bit of a struggle, less for me than for Anna. The menu was set, consisting of no less than ten courses, most of which was seafood. There were several dishes of sushi and sashimi. It was not quite as good as some we'd had, but still, not horrible. Though the raw squid was a little tough to get down. There were also some cooked dishes like grilled sweet fish, boiled abalone, and sauteed octopus. There was also a tempura dish with fried foie gras of all things. (I am slightly surprised at how much influence the French have had on Japan. There seems to be a French bakery on every corner.).
After each course, a kindly old lady would come in and replace our dishes with new ones. Throughout, she would point and rattle away in Japanese about which foods should be dipped in what sauces, and how to eat them.
After getting through most of the courses, with Anna trying to get me to eat hers so we wouldn't insult the chef by not eating, we were relieved to see that desert was simply fruit.
Dinner took nearly two hours to eat, and we were nearly exhausted by the time we were done. Two ladies came in, took the table away an pulled two thin mattresses out of the closet and laid them on the floor with some blankets and pillows. We were happy to settle in, read our books and enjoy the silent comfort of an old house.

The next morning, the process was reversed. The beds taken away and replaced by the table. We ate breakfast (thankfully a western breakfast of eggs and cereal), got packed up and checked out. Then we made our way through several trains and one old cable car to Mt. Koya, where I write this now. We are staying in a Buddhist temple on a mountain. It is beautiful here, and, thankfully, the menu will be entirely vegetarian.