Missing Kyoto

Working non stop these past months made me realize how much I miss Japans historical 'capitol' Kyoto. I 'lived' in Kyoto for a month this past summer. The reason why I say 'lived' instead of 'went on a holiday' is because I actually stayed, ahum illegally, with my boyfriend Chris in his student house. Most Dutch students have summer break from the beginning of july till the end of august. I therefore had nothing else to do except relaxing alongside the river, shopping in the historic districts while watching geisha's and blog. 

Almost every morning after I woke up, usually way to late, I would go out to get some groceries. My favourite bread store was just a two minute walk away from our apartment. Being a true Dutch I could not cope without for more then a day bread.

Japanese bread should win an award for being the best bread in the world. My number one bun by far is a sweet, round, sugary and fluffy one called melon bread. The reason why it's named like that is because they kind of look like half melons. You can see my favourite fluffy buns on the bottom shelf in the right corner of the picture. 

After I had my sweet sugary breakfast I hopped on the bike to follow the river down to Higashiyama, the historic area of Kyoto. In july the weather in Japan is very warm and humid because of that walking up the hills to reach the shops was extremely exhausting sometimes. 

As soon as I saw the beautiful faces of the geisha's I usually instantly forgot my pain. My favorite thing to do in Higashiyama was eating free samples.. The stores there are filled with tons and tons of sweets and almost every single one of them has little boxes with samples. While your looking around the store and eating freebies, the amazing staff will always offer you a cup of cold green tea. Super refreshing during the heath. Disclaimer: I don't mean to say you should only sample and never by anything, that is of course without saying WRONG. 

When Chris got out of the university I sometimes prepared him a home cooked meal or we went out to grab some cheap but healthy food. Even though a lot of things are expensive in Japan, you can still eat healthy for little money. My poor American lost a big amount of chemical fatties, build up from eating too much bad food and drinking too much sugary soda in the States. Not saying all food in the states is bad! I LOVE my Five Guys. 

Sometimes we sat down with our lunchbox 'a bento' next to the river. Playing around in the warm water and watching street performers at night were two of the high lights of my trip. 

As a Dutch girl the best time to go shopping for me was in the evening. All sushi's and bento boxes would sell for half the original price and still taste amazing. A warning for all you sushi lovers out there who plan to visit Japan one day: after you've had Japanese food in Japan, it won't taste good anywhere else anymore.

You'll be able to find out more about my stay in Japan around christmas time on BeautyLab.nl. A small hint: it might be something beauty related....