Wednesday, July 17, 2024

We had two goals for today: attend the Gion Matsuri parade and pick up my new prescription glasses.

Gion Matsuri is a large annual festival that takes place over the entire month of July. We learned from our Free Walking Tour guide that this festival originated as a way to pray to the gods to ease the suffering from a plague, and ironically it was not held in 2020. Aside from a civil war in the late 15th/early 16th centuries and COVID, this festival has been an annual event since at least 1000 CE.

One of the largest events of the festival – the parade of 34 yamaboko floats – was happening today from 9AM-1PM. We dragged our butts out of the hotel about 11AM and caught a bus to get close to the route. Luckily we found a decent viewing spot despite our tardiness – on a corner where the floats turned, about 4 people deep from the curb. I saw a fair amount and Scott was able to get decent photos and videos. It was fascinating to watch the teams of men pull these very tall floats with nothing but their own strength. And when they got to the corner to make their turn they had a routine using wood planks and impressive teamwork to make it happen despite the restrictive construction of the historic floats.

As fun as it was we were done after watching two floats make this turn. It was crowded and hot, and we were ready for a snack.

We used the underground train station to find our way into the Takashimaya Department Store that was kitty corner from our parade viewing location. On the basement level there were many displays of food for takeaway. We failed to get a photo but here’s one from the internet to give an idea. Imagine around two dozen of these with a wide variety of options.

But this is Japan and they like to make eating outside of your home or a restaurant awkward, so of course there were no seating options in what in America we would consider a fancy food court. We made our way over to the banks of the Kamo River to eat our spoils on a bench. I had some tempura and croquettes – tasty and recommended!

Afterward we decided we wanted ~~more snacks~~ some A/C so we did the thing where you go into a McDonalds to see how it’s different in a foreign country. We tried a sugary melon drink and some macrons. Meh. Of course it was meh, it was McDonalds.

We decided to walk back towards our hotel along the Kamo to enjoy the view and the slight breeze off of the water. Look at that – almost no one and so peaceful.

When we transitioned street-side we came across a fun shop dedicated to rubber ducks. Despite having two life reasons to buy ducks (#jeeplife and cruising), I controlled myself and just bought a commemorative sticker.

Next we went back to the JINS store to pick up my new eyeglasses that I had ordered on the 12th. We each got a pair at this store for $130 total and we love them.