Shopping, Japan Style!

And they found FABRIC!

Look at all the happy smiles!

It's not like they are going to a HUGE quilt show in a few days or anything.  You would think they haven't seen, felt, touched fabric for months - 

Like ducks to water, they all dove in!  And I love it!

We had some time to explore some shopping areas while in Nara and Kyoto.  The shopping voyeur inside me just LOVES to see and hear what treasures others have found - some edible, some wearable, some gifts for special people back home.

Street side vendors - can you imagine the aromas?

This vendor was making some kind of bun.

Antique fabrics and scraps outside of a shop.

More antique pieces - from old clothing.

Oh, these indigo blues get me every time!

A beautiful array of colorful foods in cases.

Barrels of unknown wonder! LOL!

This was all seafood.

I know you can smell this one in your mind!

Yes, I passed the octopus on a stick test!

It wasn't bad - if you don't mind salty, chewy, and the surprise of a hard boiled quail egg inside its head.  Appreciate cultural differences, embrace the challenge and sense of adventure.  What a great way to celebrate my birthday.  No cake, no candles, but an octopus on a stick.  LOL.

This I remember from my trip 30 years go - you don't need to read a menu to understand what something is.  It is all in plastic before your eyes.  I am LOVING the food here.  Each meal is an adventure.

And there is always a McDonald's around the corner.  Kind of sad, really - what have we done to the world?  But so far I haven't had to resort to it.

Geisha House Dinner.

Don't laugh at my socks.

We had a wonderful time with our group in the Geisha district in one of Kyoto's historic areas.  The dancing was fascinating, learning about the history and life of a geisha was eye opening, the commitment to comfort, gentleness and hospitality.

The dancer you see in my video below is under 20 years old.  They have their hair done once a week, and she is required to do all of her white make up herself.  She was so graceful and beautiful!

The only thing that took away from our experience was the rather large group of Japanese businessmen in suits and ties in the room next door who got louder and louder as each round of sake was passed!

Click to play:

This was such a wonderful evening!

She was always fluidly moving.

The dance was for each of the four seasons.

Ending with a beautiful bow.

Plum trees bloom in January!

This photo was from yesterday's early morning walkabout - there were 5 of us out exploring where streets would lead.  We found a park with a green area and enjoyed our brisk pace before heading back to the hotel to load up on the bus for the day's excursions.

There is another walkabout ready to happen in a few minutes - I just need to hit POST, put my suitcase outside the door for pick up and we will be off.

The suitcases will be taken by truck to Tokyo and will be waiting for our late afternoon arrival.

In the mean time, we will be doing some more activities here in the Kyoto area.  After lunch we load up onto the bullet train and are off to Tokyo to meet up with our luggage, check into the Tokyo Dome Hotel and start the second half our our Quiltville Goes to Japan adventure!

Photo from yesterday's plum tree discovery!

I can't think of a better way to spend a 57th birthday, can you?

Due to the length of this post and the shortness of time I will be drawing our Quilty Box winners another time in the near future -

Have a wonderful day, everyone!