Rama Murigande

Kyoto - a few first impressions from my 4-day stay in this beautiful, varied city. Sunny, snowy, windy, traditional, green, and with so many beautiful places. 1-5: I had the most special tea ceremony 🫖🍵🍮 at @tearoom_toka and was welcomed by a mystical snowfall, and visited the @kankakari_ gallery with their current "wooden arts and crafts" collection exhibition. 6-8: The city is so walkable, and I always tried to take the smallest streets and hidden paths, which led me to @oud.kyoto They restore old Japanese furniture, and you can visit the little showroom. Just two steps from there, I found a cute little self service outdoor pottery shop. 9-13: Beautiful @maanahomes in a traditional machiya. You can find these traditional structures and patterns all over the city. For me, the best way to discover a new city is by running, with coffee and cake stops. Ending the day with a run, followed by a calming sento bath is one of my favorite things to do in Japan. 🧘🏼‍♀️ 14-15: I wanted to go to @dupreekyoto for lunch, but when it was closed, I was quite frustrated because this happened quite often to me in Japan: on every page, the restaurants seem to be open, but they’re still closed. So, I ended up at @mementmorikyoto by chance and had the most delicious traditional set meal for lunch, all made by this sweet lady. 🍜🥒🍚 16-17: In January, I started to take a deep dive into fermentation with "The Noma Guide to Fermentation" and discovering that @maanahomes holds fermentation workshops at @maana.atelier was perfectly timed. I will do a separate post for that because the workshop with K was so special, and I learned so much from her! 🤍🫶🏻 Let me know if you would like a full Kyoto guide with all my favorite spots listed. 🍜🥒🍚☁️🥟🥬🌳☕️🐉