Sunday Café Expedition VIII

www.tamayuran.jp 
Hot chocolate 500¥
parfait with berries 450¥

Tamayuran cat café. Busy times with a lot of school work, so last weeks "Sunday" café actually happened on this Wednsday. We went to a small cat café, or more like a café with cats, since in this place there is no enterance fee and the cats are more relaxed.

This was my first time to visit a café with cats. It is funny to drink and eat while having a huge orange cat on your lap. The place had a home made atmosphere, good parfaits and cocoa and we saw four different cats, even though most of them were kind of hiding upstairs, where the owner might be living. Nice experience.

Up in the mountains

Trip to Kibune and Kurama. Before the rainy season started we wanted to visit some new outdoor place. We took a train up North, to the mountains. It was heavy 13km walk with Shrines and great scenery. Up and down a mountain, then up again and down once more.

With all the beauty of the nature, the best parts for me were the concrete structures holding the mountain togther.

It was the perfect combination of Jurassic Park, Lost and Miyazaki's films like Castle in the Sky. 

Sunday Café Expedition VII

www.sarasan2.exblog.jp 
Ginger ale with mango syrup 550¥
Caramel cheese cake 470¥

Sarasa Nishijin. For me this place isn't a new discovery, but still on top of my lists. The place used to be a public bath house, but it has been renovated to serve as a café. The original tiling and other elements left from the previous purpose makes the atmosphere really strong and interesting. Their cake and drink selection is quite wide (and good!) and the prices aren't that high. Perfct combination of interesting surroundings, delicious cakes and good atmosphere.

This place goes well with the Funaoka bath house near by. This Sunday we walked more than 13km at Kurama and Kibune and after that nothing felt more relaxing than good bath and café.  

Sunday Café Expedition VI

www.traction-bookcafe.com
Citrus and yougurt parfrait 800¥
Caramel milk 530¥

Traction - Book Café. This place is one of the popular book cafés in Kyoto, and since we wanted to do some studying we went there. Design furniture, old books and magazines, inclusive menu and very quiet atmosphere. Even though everything tasted very good, the price is a bit expensive. The interior was not so interesting or memorable but the biggest turn off was the service. Maybe the waiter had a bad day or then he's just not that polite, but overall he made us kind of feel bad about the place so we changed to a Kissamaster, a very nice café near Sanjo with nice view to a inside garden.

Hop on your bicycle

In Kyoto on of the best thing is just to roll around with bicycles and see what you can find. This time it took me, Marine and Nina to North-East Kyoto. First we discovered the Kyoto University of Art and Design (which I always tought to be some kind of a museum). It was an interesting mixture of old red tile buildings inside, under, next to and on top of new concrete buildings. The buildings climbs up the mountainside. The view from classrooms and different corridors were really nice. It must be quite nice to study there!
    

View from Kyoto University of Art and Design

Cool new part of KUAD, interesting buildings with long long stairs.

Inside the cafeteria was not that nice. The lamps are cool, but colours not.

After that we hit the mountain. We discovered a small shop called "Salmiakki" selling Finnish design products and yes, I paid 2€ for a "pätkis", a chocolate bar that usually costs around 25 cents. I still haven't eaten it, so maybe I'm savign it for a special event. After that we tried to visit few tea houses and old traditional Japanese building, but since we didn't want to pay for it we ended up to the Tanukisani Fudo-in.

Totally different world. Tanukis at Tanukisani Fudo-in. Now the Miyazakis films feels so much more realistic

Tanukisani Fudo-in, but first 250 steps before that. No wonder they say this temple is good for your health.

After all the bicycling we were hungry and tired. So then it was food and sleep.

But the few last days have been so sunny and well, for me it feels like super hot summer, but actually it is just spring slowly getting warmer. It is nice to see people switching to a summer mood and one of the best ways to spend these hot days is just to hang around the Kamogawa river.

Shiho at Kamogawa riveside.

Music in river.

Sunday Café Expedition V

www.goethe.de 
Chocolate cake 500¥
Mango juice 500 ¥

Café Müller inside the Goethe-Institute. This German-Japan mixture felt actually almost too "Finnish" to call it a great new experience (unlike some of the other expeditions have been). The outdoor deck was nice with the garden, but the mosquitos were in aggressive mood. Over all this place was okay and the staff was very friendly, but a bit too ordinary. The furniture, tableware and architecture reminds a lot of cafés in Finnish museums, libraries ect, so only the Japanese customars and staff was an interesting twist. The big painting on the back was also good.

Lace mask

Today while being sick and stuck inside my room I found these photos we took with Kristiina in 2011 (time. please stop flying so fast!) and I think it is finally time to share them :)

Sunday Café Expedition IV

www.awomb.com 
Japanese umeboshi soda 650¥

A Womb. What a cool place! The architecture and minimalistic style would fit perfectly to Naoshima, but lucky for us it is here in Kyoto. Of course it is a bit expencive for everyday use but as an experience it is deffinitely worth it. The long window to the moss garden is simply beautiful and before we noticed, two hours had passed by.

I really enjoy discovering these hidden gems in Kyoto. It also makes the otherwise boring Sundays feel a lot more fun (Even though this week we did our trip on Monday, since it is a national holiday here).

Yabusame

"Every day is like a scene from my favourite movie"
 

Horseback archery aka Yabusame at Shimogamo shrine.
Front row. Long ceremonies. The patterns of the cloths. The speed of the horses.
It is just all perfect.

Sunday Café Expedition III

www.boogaloocafe.co.jp 
Tomato bacon pasta 850¥

Boogaloo. The weeks go by so fast! This Sunday was so sunny and great that we went to the café a bit later than usually - after spending the day at riverside enjoying the feeling of doing nothing. 

In the café we actually were already quite hungry so insted of the normal coffee and cake we tried the dinner menu and the food was good! It would have been great to have a hot chocolate but this they didn't have.

The dim lighting and playfull mixture of design chairs (+ Ikea haha) works better in this open space when it gets darker outdoors. In that dark mood the place is very cosy and it is easy to forget yourself there for hours.