Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
I was still feeling run down from surfing the crimson wave, so I slept in and dozed in bed until it was time to get up and head to Kyoto. Today I got to meet a longtime friend in Japan, Etsuko! I met her a couple times while I was there before, and we’ve kept in touch on Facebook. We went to Starbucks for coffee and to chat about life for a while, then went to the station up to a really delicious tempura restaurant for lunch. Then we wandered around the station to look at all the Christmas lights, the tree, and went up to the two gardens up top. It was a really nice, relaxing few hours catching up with a marvelous person.
It started to rain as we went to the trains, so instead of staying in Kyoto and walking around in the cold and wet, I decided to go back to Osaka. On my way back to the hotel I discovered a shopping district street I hadn’t explored yet, so I took a walk down the shopping street and got a strawberry and chocolate parfait. Ice cream in Japan is next level, it’s so thick and creamy here. I went back to the hotel and ate some of the fruits and snacks Etsuko gave me, took a long hot bath, and worked on photos and journal stuff for a while. Now I’m going to bed early because man I’m tired!
