It's Sunday morning here, overcast, a small possibility of rain later. We're having a slow start, Peter doing his Soduko by the window and me catching up with email. We're off to Kyoto Station shortly to buy our tickets to Tokyo. We hope we can figure out the subway. Unlike Seoul, the ticket machines don't have an English option. But the nearest station is where the two lines intersect, and has an info centre, so presumably someone will help us when we run into trouble.
I've been thinking about the pleasures of sitting still. After the Castle yesterday we went to a small cafe (Cafe Flower? Cafe ergo-bibamus?) we'd noticed on Friday, on Marutamachi-dori, beside the Kama River. It was after 2:p.m. and we were hungry. They served us delicious sandwiches (country ham and salmon with capers) on crusty baguettes, and excellent iced coffees. We sat at an outside table and watched the river with its strollers and bicyclists streaming alongside. The sky grew bluer. The breeze was lovely and soft. A gigantic bumblebee investigated every flower on a small shrub. An old man with a fishing pole stopped to wait while his young grandson clambered down from a railing and onto his small bicycle, then pedalled sturdily up the incline to the street. Dogs trailed owners down to the river. The dangling willow leaves brushed our heads when the breeze blew. A young woman with an impressive camera had a long conversation with a long-haired man on a bicycle. Crows called, a large raptor circled and dipped. The water kept flowing and we kept sitting. It was a perfect summer afternoon.
The cafe where we ate lunch by the Kama River. Our table was the far right one. (my photo)
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