Into the Heart of Darkness

Shinkansen Train

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Blue Skys

Our boat to take us up the River 

A View from the Bridge 

Tatami Room

Bathroom with Wooden Soaking Tub

Two of the Chefs 

Crab Presentation

Shrimp (in center) - Note the Gold Leaf

Two varieties of Tokyo Saki

Seared Tuna with Consume

This is fun!

Fish that wasn't fried with Salmon Eggs

Steak and Vegetables served with Wasabi and Sea Salt

Filled with remorse we checked out of the Tokyo Ritz-Carlton. Sad because we were leaving one of the best hotel experiences we have ever experienced, and disgusted with myself for not realizing I should have ordered a steak sandwich to go from Shima last night to eat on the train. On Japanese trains people bring food and eat as the Shinkansen (bullet train) zips down the tracks.

We had the untouched cheese cake restaurant Shima had given us. We asked the concierge at the Ritz to pack a lunch to go for us with no food. They delivered a bag with beautiful empty boxes and eating utensils. We decided to simply take the utensils with us and returned the boxes. The cheese cake tasted more like a cheese soufflé than a cheese cake, luckily, we didn’t have more food to eat for lunch or I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy dinner.

As the train sped through the countryside the sun came out and the sky finally turned blue. We arrived at Kyoto Station and transferred to a Taxi for the 40 minute ride towards our destination: Hoishinoya Resort. The taxi dropped us of at a landing spot at river, and we were taken into a small building for welcoming drinks and registration. While we were doing that, our luggage was loaded on the wooden boat. When we were oriented we boarded the boat for the trip up the river. We passed boats propelled by men with just giant bamboo sticks, I had never seen that before. I kept thinking of Kurtz heading up the river in the movie apocalypse now. Hopefully our experience would be different.

The Inn is in the middle of the forest built on the side of a cliff. There are hiking trails, mediations daily and other relaxing activities. We were led to basically a private house. Tatami Room, Office, Bedroom, two entrance rooms, bath with traditional Japanese wooden tub and a toilet that opens automatically when I approach it. We were given Japanese style clothes to wear while we were at the resort.

Dinner was an indescribable (by me) experience. It was the traditional Kyoto Kaiseki Dinner. Kaiseki is a multiple course set dinner, Kyoto is considered the best place in Japan to experience this endless treat. The food is highly seasonal, adorned with flowers and only the freshest ingredients. The food is made to represent flowers, the harvest moon, autumn, etc. in exquisite detail and taste. We pared it with four wines and three different sakes. With each course (and I am only showing you some, in the pictures above) the hostess would lean over and explain the dish and the relationship to nature. She also explained each of the wines and Saki. It is an overwhelming food experience. It was: Oyeishi. That is the Japanese word they taught me for “very good” when referring to food! Hope my transliteration is close.

Our suite is down a stone stairway built into the side of the cliff. We were worried we would have trouble navigating home, but we had no problem. I am still suffering from jet lag (happily it doesn’t affect my eating) but took a sleeping pill and actually slept till 6am.

We have a hard resort day planned tomorrow – 90 minute massages each.