Let us eat cake / Ekmek bulamadiysak...

Gladly, I don't eat bread with dinner. It would have been difficult to find one that is not sweet. Caline has had difficulty with regular supermarket bread.

No bread? No problem! Plenty of cake to be had, well, sushi and sashimi in any case.

This is what we've been eating since we've arrived. We didn't intend to gorge on fish, it just happened.

Caline is collecting the yellow plastic flowers which come with the food :-) We decorate the food with more and more everyday.

Ben iyi ki ekmek yemiyorum yemekle. Oyle bir aliskanligim olsa yanmistim, zira tatli olmayanini bulmak zor. Caline supermarketten aldiklarimizi pek begenmedi.

Ekmek bulamadik mi? Olsun! Kek dolu... en azindan sushi ve sashimi dolu.

Geldigimizden beri yediklerimiz bunlar. Illa balik olsun demedik, kendiliginden oluvermis. 

Caline yemekle gelen plastik cicekleri biriktirmeye basladi :-) Yemeklerimizi susluyoruz oyle; gitgide de artacak.

P.S. :This is our combined dinners.

Not: Bunlar ikimizin toplam yemekleri.

Yarns and Friends / Yumaklar ve Arkadaslar

After leaving the temple, we met Chica and her daughter. Chica took us to Sanjo-dori. This is mainly a shopping street, full of old buildings in the western style. In one of these buildings there is a place of pilgrimage. Avril in Japan, Habu outside (exotic name sells well everywhere). This was the main feast of the day for me. Up until now I could see a few examples of this yarn in a few fairs, and heard a lot about it. They are produced in Kyoto. The shop recently moved to its new place on the 3rd floor and looks very spacious.  I was, no need to say, like a child in a candy store. From silk to pure wool, stainless steel to hand-dyed...they are all there in exquisite quality.

Cumartesi tapinaktan cikip Chica ve kiziyla bulustuk. Chica bizi Sanjo-dori'ye goturdu. Burasi, yuz yildan eski, bati etkisinde binalarin oldugu bir alisveris caddesi. Bu binalardan birinde orgu aleminde hac edilecek bir dukkan var. Japonya'da Avril, disarda Habu (egzotik isim her yerde onemli).  Iste benim icin gunun ziyafeti bu oldu. Hollanda'da sadece fuardan fuara birkac cesidini gorebildigim, ama hikayelerini bolca dinledigim bu ipler Kyoto'da uretiliyor. Yeni yerine, 3. kata tasinmis, 2. kattaki yeri daha kucuk gorundu gozume, cok iyi olmus. Sekerci dukkanina girmis cocuk gibi oldum. Ipekler mi saf yunler mi, paslanmaz celik ipler mi, elde boyanmisi mi, muazzam bir kalitede hepsi mevcut.

We dropped by the famous Inoda's to have some coffee. I had a Mont Blanc (because of my love for chestnut) and ice-coffee. To be honest, I wasn't too impressed. Japanese may do many things well, but patisserie or coffee are not one of those things (at least not in Kyoto). After watching hours of baking related anime, I expected more passion :-)

Ordan da meshur Inoda's Kafe'ye ugradik. Ben (kestane askimdan) bir Mont Blanc aldim, bir de buzlu kahve. Dogrusunu demek gerekirse de Japonlar pastahane veya kahve isini cok iyi kiviramiyorlar(en azindan Kyoto'da) Saatlerce pasta-borek animesi izledikten sonra buldugumdan daha cok azim beklerdim.

I wasn't too impressed, but Aika-chan was. She was super happy with her chocolate Nijntje-aka-Miffy. This girl can draw, and she drew very pretty pictures for us. Her English was much better than some of my teachers at school by the way.

Ben belki cok memnun kalmadim ama Aika-can cukulata tavsanina (Hollanda'da Nijntje, burda Miffy, Turkiye'de var mi bu ben bilmiyorum) pek sevindi. Cok guzel resim cizebiliyor, o da bize harika resimler yapti. Ingilizcesi de benim okuldaki hocalarin cogundan iyiydi.

Nijo Castle / Nijo Kalesi

Saturday morning we headed North to visit the Nijo Castle, another Unesco World Heritage site. At the entrance, we saw a procession of some sort, which I have no idea what for.

Cumartesi sabahi Nijo Kalesi'ni ziyaret etmeye dustuk yola. Bu da Unesco Dunya Mirasi listesinde bir yer. Giriste ne oldugunu bilmedigimiz bir merasim gorduk.

Honestly, this is the most beautiful castle I've ever seen. It's like a palace, but not a palace (after linking to Wikipedia, I've found out that the building is indeed a palace). It is where war business is discussed...more like a war office.The floor literally chirps (actually squeaks) to let the inhabitants know that there's an intruder. The room walls and inner doors are gilded with gold leaves and beautiful scenery painted over them. The inner building is all wood, complete with paper windows. Taking pics was not allowed inside, so I won't be able to treat you.

When you think that Shogun walked those corridors, in his exquisite silk garments, you get a shiver.

Acikcasi benim simdiye kadar gordugum en guzel kaleydi. Daha cok saray gibi (maalesef Turkce Vikipedi baglantisi yok ama, Ingilizce baglantiyi verirken gercekten de saray oldugunu ogrendim) Burasi duvarlari ve ic kapilari altin varaklanmis, uzerine muhtesem manzaralar boyanmis bir "savas isleri muzakere dairesi" daha cok. Ahsap yerler resmen kus gibi sakiyor (aslinda gicirdiyor tabii). Onu da habersiz giren cikan var mi bilmek icin oyle insa etmisler. Ic bina tamamen ahsap ve kagit pencereli. Iceride fotograf cekmek yasak oldugu icin maalesef paylasamiyorum.

Shogun'un o koridorlarda, muhtesem ipek giysileri icinde yurudugunu dusunmek de tuyler urpertici.

 

It was allowed to take pics outside the inner building...complete with its beautiful gardens. It has an additional garden area, which we didn't visit because we were tight for time.

Ic binanin disinda fotograf cekmek serbestti. Bahceleri de harikaydi. Gerci kale alani kadar baska bir bahcesi daha vardi ama bizim zamanimiz az oldugu icin oraya girmedik.

Out in the garden, a Japanese couple approached us to practise English. Apparently their teacher gave them a " Go to Nijo Castle, find couple of tourists and practice" assignment. They didn't understand English very well, but we managed pretty alright in Japanese eventually.

Kale bahcesinde bir Japon cift yaklasip bizimle Ingilizce pratigi yapmak istediler. Ellerinde de bir kagit, belli ki ogretmenleri "Gidin Nijo Kalesi'ne , bulun bir iki turist, pratik yapin' demis. Bize sorular sordular. Bizim Ingilizcemizi pek anlamadilar ama Japonca iyi anlastik neticede. 

After the two-hour visit to the castle we headed to Karasuma-Oike station, North ticket gate to meet a Japanese friend and her daughter. This was for the second feast of the day. That will be the next post.

Iki saatlik ziyeretimizden sonra Karasuma-Oike istasyonu Kuzey cikis gisesi onune, bir Japon arkadas ve kiziyla bulusmaya gittik. Gunun bundan sonrasi benim icin ikinci ziyafet oldu. Onun da arkasi yarin artik.

The Botanical Garden / Botanik Bahcesi

On Tuesday we took the underground for the first time and went to the botanical gardens. I wish the pic was a bit sharper, but I took it quite sneakily. Japanese usually sleep on public transport, especially on the underground. These people were all taking a nap.


Sali gunu ilk defa metroya binip botanik bahcesine gittik. Keske resim daha duzgun ciksaydi ama caktirmadan cektim. Japonlar toplu tasima araclarinda uyuyorlar hep, ozellikle de metroda. Resimdekilerin hepsi uyuyor.

At the botanical gardens they had more than 100 kinds of sakura. This was the most impressive displaye we've seen fo far. They had all sorts of plants, of course: Peach, magnolia and camelias were also in bloom.


Botanik bahcesinde 100'den fazla cesit sakura agaci vardi. Simdiye kadar gorduklerimiz arasinda en etkileyici yer burasiydi. Tabii baska bir suru cesit bitki vardi. Seftali, manolya ve kamelya da cicekliydi.

I did wedding photography as well:


Dugun fotografcisi da oldum:





 


At some point Japan met The Netherlands.

Bir noktada Japonya Hollanda'yla bulustu.

We made some pics of each other:

Birbirimizin fotografini cektik:

And before leaving we saw a Bonsai garden:

Cikmadan bir de Bonsai bahcesi gorduk: