Kyoto day 3- part 2- Tetsugaku no Michi

The Philospher's Path.

Just the name itself speaks to me, conjuring images of contemplative souls plodding along the pathway of stones or gravel with heavy concepts tumbling around inside their minds. Threads of thought teased out to their fullest extent on a cool afternoon, or perhaps a revelation on a humid summer day while the sun berates the face of the thinker and beads of sweat roll down their brow. Perhaps the thinker would pause and enjoy a bowl of cool soba garnished with grated daikon, or a warm nabe on chilly days, before resuming their purposeful pacing. It sounds heady, wise, or pretentious depending on the interpreter, I suppose.  I enjoyed my walk along the path, stopping to take in sights or small details along the way. There was an antique kimono shop I would have liked to spend more time in, and a substantial portion of my funds, but time and finances were not on my side this time. I did pick up a couple omiyage (souvenirs) for friends and encountered a quiet, kind-hearted stranger who tended to the stray cats in the area along the way. While I, personally, am not much of a cat person, I always take great joy in seeing humans interacting with animals in a positive and peaceful manner.  It was all the more serendipitous given that the path was really quite a solitary stroll for the vast majority of my excursion.  

San Francisco: Golden Gate Park to the Golden Gate Bridge

We walked a lot while we were in San Francisco.

I believe we did around 10 or 12 miles per day.

Neither of us are joggers, so running was an unrealistic option for exploring the city in all it's quirks, rental cars are expensive (and parking even worse), and the bike rentals seemed like a great idea until it came to all those beautiful but steep hills. 

So, we walked.

Sure, we also took the BART, the busses, and the occasional trolley car from time to time, but mostly we walked. 

San Francisco is a city that, despite it's hills, is probably best explored by foot. The neighborhoods aren't nearly so far apart as they might initially appear; walking from Japantown to Chinatown took us maybe an hour and that's with frequent stops for photographs along the way and sipping some of the green tea I picked up at Nijiya. Fisherman's wharf was a quick trolley ride from there. 

Even our sojourn from the Golden Gate Park to the bridge wasn't terrible, and we'd already walked to the park from our hotel near Haight. 

Walking gives you the opportunity to see things you might miss out on when zipping past in a car, or to stop at your leisure to smell the flowers or admire the view without worrying about causing a traffic incident. On our walk from the park to the bridge, we passed a small produce store where we picked up sugar dates, peaches and fresh Rainier cherries for fresh snacking during our hike.