Christmas Eve

We caught the bus to Gion, and decided to look at Yasaka Shrine, a large and very impressive Shinto Shrine which is the reason Gion became such a busy area. Many people travelled to see the shrine, so Gion became an area of guesthouses and entertainment to cater for this. There was a very cute cat at the shrine, which Mya and Finn found, by far, the most interesting thing here.

We then headed down the Main Street, as Finn wanted to show Mya something we had seen the day before. So many beautiful handcrafts, in shops that have been running since before Australia was “discovered” by Europeans. We ended up quite distracted and then decided to have lunch.

After lunch Mya was “not feeling well” and wanted to go home…… We got back to find Chelsea’s party in full swing. 16 ten year olds, having lots of fun. Mya joined in and obviously made a very quick recovery from her brief sickness. She was lost to us for the rest of the evening…….

So, the Silver Pavillion remained unvisited, again.

After some reading and relaxing, Finn and I headed out to get some dinner. After quite a bit of research, I found a pub, The Pig and Whistle, and Magoo and I went and had a quiet Christmas Eve dinner and a couple of gin and tonics (well, I did, not Finny). While we were having dinner, I realised we were very close to the area called Pontocho, one of the five hanamachi “flower” districts in Kyoto. These are geiko (geisha) entertainment areas. Pontocho is where Liz Dalby, an American anthropologist, lived as a geisha, the only westerner ever to do so, and wrote her PhD. I read this dissertation last time I was here, but didn’t get a chance to visit.

We arrived home to family dinner, including Mya. We joined Maki and the girls, and some other guests for Christmas cake (a Japanese tradition) and champagne. Mya decided she was sleeping over at the girls, so we had a reasonably early night, knowing tomorrow was going to be a very busy day!!!

Merry Christmas everyone ❤️❤️