An Afternoon at the Kamogawa

This afternoon I took a sort of last minute trip to the Kamogawa River with my friend Delaney. A big group of people went to Nara to see the deer, but I didn't know about those plans until the morning of (and I didn't want to pay train fare to get all the way there).

Anyway, a small group of girls were all going to picnic by the Kamogawa River, but it ended up being just Delaney and I. We left around 1 and took the bus to the Kawaramachi area, which a downtown area with lots of shops, sights, etc. It's basically downtown Kyoto. (I think I mentioned that in a previous post.) Many of the International students hang around the Kawaramachi at night, drinking and watching the street musicians and performers that sometimes come out there. The section of the river that be picnicked by was very grassy, and very beautiful. Many families and couples were out by the river, just enjoying the nice weather.

We found a nice spot with some shade, and at lunch. As we sat there, a man parked his bike under a nearby tree and took out a bag of bread. He stood by the river bank waving his arms and making whistling/clicking noises, and in a matter of minutes, about ten or eleven hawks started circling around. He started throwing bread in the air, and the hawks swooped down and snatched the bread midair. It was amazing. He kept it up for about half an hour.

(There was also the most precious little boy chasing pigeons, laughing and having the greatest time. )

After we finished up our picnic, we went to this little bookshop on the second floor of a building near the bus stop. Delaney noticed that she sign mentioned used books, so we thought we would take a look. It ended up being a bookstore that bought and sold used ENGLISH books, so we were pretty excited. All I bought there was a little post card, but I may go back and buy a book. They were all pretty cheap, and there were some books that I liked there. They also sold coffee, tea, and hot chocolate for only 300 円. If I go down that way again, I would love to pick out a book, drink some hot chocolate, and have some quiet moments. They were playing songs in English that I was fond of, like some stuff by Ok Go, Feist, and Matt and Kim. It almost felt like I was sitting in a tiny bookshop somewhere in New York.

After that, we took the bus back to our area of town, and went to a local bakery called Peter Pan Bakery, where I got this chocolate chip muffin...thing. I will definitely go there in the morning when the selection is bigger. There were also little tarts, and Delaney told me they often sold baguettes.

People in Japan really seem to love French food and little cafes, so there are little coffee shops, French Style cafes, and bakeries everywhere.

That's all for now. I miss everyone so much!