A Half Day in the Life (cont’d)

Matcha pancakes, anyone?

If you ever need an excuse for overindulgence, just bring along some children for whom the word excess holds no meaning.

So, the day began yesterday with our family gathering for breakfast at a small restaurant we’d discovered a few years ago.  It’s an Hawaiian import, specializing in taking a humble pancake and pushing it over the top.  It’s called Eggs n Things.  I guess the “things” might be for the extravagant plates of pancakes they serve up, for which there are almost no words, although as a rational adult, I can quickly think of a few, obscene being one of them. This would never enter the mind of a child whose dopamine levels are dangerously high, but continue to escalate.

Spreading the whipped cream.

Just for your info, not one for personal sacrifice, I had a stack of strawberry pancakes, the only one of the adults not to order eggs.  I only ate about 2/3 of the whipped cream.

Our goal for the day was to travel to Fushimi Inari shrine, about 20 minutes away by train.

Walking to the station, we passed some cool sights.

street folk art in Kyoto

window scene

In the window of Takashimaya

cool kids

hydrangeas leafing out

We arrived at the Fushimi Inari Shrine along with thousands of other tourists.  Our first encounter was with a newborn baby and proud grandmothers, about to be blessed in a Shinto ceremony.

We wound our way up the hill to the shrine of toriis.  None of us had the desire to walk to the top and we were all pleased to turn back after about 20 minutes on the trail.  It was a relief for me to get away from the tourists, but I was happy to learn that our visitors still thought it was a sight not-to-be-missed.  In just a half-day, we were all ready to take a break.

torii gates at Fushimi Inari Shrine.