Day 4 - Nishijin & Kawaramachi

We had a very big day planned, but things did not quite go to plan. First, we had planned to see the Kyoto Imperial Palace. Unfortunately because today is a Sunday - it was closed. But we decided to persevere and head to the Nishijin Textile Centre. Unfortunately the map was kind of terrible and we ended up walking about 3 blocks too far. We finally back-tracked and found someone who knew where it was. He drew a map for me and we were there within 10 minutes. After all that trauma, we were determined to go!

And we are both incredibly glad that we did. First up, we watched a video about the silk making process. I don't think I will ever again complain about the price of silk after I have seen what goes into making it. We got to see some vintage textiles that dated from 1000 - 1500 as well as some looms. On display were people working on painting silk fabrics by hand. And a kimono fashion parade. Best of all though, was that we were able to shop there for yukatas and silk products.

Afterwards, we had planned to visit another temple complex, but we had wasted so much time looking for the textile center that it was just not feasible to get there in time. So instead, we did the final part of our itinerary - shopping in Kawaramachi. In specific the covered arcade shopping area. And boy were we successful. I found a lolita shop (Metamorphose) which was completely unintentional, I shopped for boots to keep my tootsies warm and stuck luck with a pair of Vans furry boots for $30. One of the best buys of the day was the vintage kimono and obi silks that I picked up in a store.

For dinner, we decided that instead of just picking something up at the local Family Mart that we would sit down to a meal. We decided to try out Lipton. Yes, they served tea, but they also put together a lovely meal. And the atmosphere just made me feel incredibly fancy.