Weekend Hike

Friday night, we enjoyed a night on the town. We tried to go to a monthly flea market at Toji temple in southern Kyoto, but we didn't really get there in time. (I got to see them closing up, and I also got to see a gaggle of very disappointed Italian tourists.) But Renee and I still had a nice dinner and finished with an hour of karaoke.

Saturday morning, I was pleasantly surprised to get a phone call from my sister. I hadn't spoken with anyone in my family for over a month, and it was really great to talk to her! Sugoi desu ne!

Later on Saturday, we hiked up the hills near our house to see the view from one of the characters from the Daimonji festival we went to last month. It was a hot and sticky afternoon, so it took about three times as long going up as coming down. We have a friend who runs -- runs! -- up this hike every morning. We barely survived, although on a cool morning we might have done better. It was hazy, but we still got a great view of Kyoto! At the bottom, we treated ourselves to some delicious black sesame ice cream.