Thinking Allowed: Day 79-81: Ebihara to Kuzuha

Day 79: Ebihara Camp to Kusatsu

Hours walked: 7:00-4:00

Distance walked: 29 km

Cumulative: 1,749 km

Last night was a bit difficult. The rain didn’t let up until about 10pm, with both tents leaking a bit, at which point the gale-force winds set in. Our tents flapped and whipped in the winds while bamboo groves thrashed all around us. Levi woke up about a hundred times, and nobody slept very well.

We woke up to ten degrees, strong winds and a bright blue sky. Packing up was a chilly affair, but the campsite owner gave us Halloween cookies and let us pet her two sheep, Ooo and Lamb, so we set off groggy yet in good spirits.

Our walking was very smooth all day long. The Tokaido yet again rolled us through picturesque little hamlets with endless bonsai gardens, cedar-slatted Edo-style houses, and brooding temples. We passed through a tunnel covered in ivy, were hailed on loudspeakers by white-glove mayoral candidates, bought mochi from an old lady that turned out to contain whole grapes, and came across a bag of deliciously tart and sweet clementines which we all adored, most of all Levi. Halloween decorations are much more tasteful here - all the bakeries have Halloween themed food, and cute little pumpkins.

We rested up briefly in our hotel, then went to a nearby Indian restaurant for dinner. It took almost two hours, as a duo of chefs frantically cooked for way too many customers, the naan dough cracking like gunshots. Tamar says they were overwhelmed, and even though they were skilled, that skill was drowned out in the wash of takeout orders. Now all our sweaters smell like oil and spices. Filling, though. Anyway, we did laundry and fell asleep in an instant.

Like a pathway to another world

Kyoto’s beauty approaches

Levi has been bingeing on clementines

Day 80: Kusatsu to Kyoto

Hours walked: 8:45-4:30

Distance walked: 25 km

Cumulative: 1,774 km

Today we started quite late, thanks to first not boarding a train because it was too full for our bulky gear, then getting coffee and cinnamon rolls instead of walking. But it “was a good-temperature day: sunny, but not too sunny” says Tova.

The girls played lots of Remembery Interrogations: “you basically ask them a bunch of questions and then ask them again; they need to remember everything or they lose.” We finished reading Howliday Inn aloud, which was quite popular as the first whodunit Zadie and Tova had heard.

We cruised into Kyoto over the hills from Otsu, fortuitously meeting the only rabbi within 500km who happened to be toting a wheeled sukkah behind him! We also passed an artisanal yam roaster, and Tamar couldn’t resist the long rows of red clay pots filled with slowly baking tubers. $4.50 is a lot for one potato, but it really was good - sweet and melt-in-your-mouth soft.

Tamar found us a traditional house that is just beautiful: low woven rush ceilings, a heavy dark wooden armoire, tatami mats lining most rooms, and sliding doors made of dark bamboo slats.

Dinner was another udon tofu vegetable soy stir fry (kinda deja vu at this point) and some ice cream for dessert. Levi has only been shaking her head lately, but at night was practicing her full-body nod - we all cracked up until bedtime.

We will miss these Tokaido lanes

Unexpected selfie with a rabbi!

Closeup Caterpillar Photo Club continues

Day 81: Kyoto to Kuzuha

Hours walked: 7:45-3:30

Distance walked: 23 km

Cumulative: 1,797 km

We are done the Tokaido! It was a great companion and a memorable stretch of our walk, taking us through the country’s history ever since we joined it way back on Day 57. The nicest part was definitely the last: Okazaki to Kyoto had so many amazing old towns to explore. We will miss it!

Today was a nice slow day of walking: we detoured to visit some of Kyoto’s temples and shrines: Shoren-in, Chionin and Yasaka. It was a pain lugging the stroller up long flights of stone stairs, but worth it to wander amongst empty courtyards and into gilded temples in the morning hush.

Then we cut west to the Kamo River, whose bike path slices straight through central Kyoto. It whisked us southeast, and the rest of the day was a smooth river stroll in perfect weather. We ate lunch on some polished granite rocks, stopped for ice cream at a rest stop with lookout tower, and saw a trumpet player sitting concealed in the bushes in an industrial zone along the river. He was good! We wondered how anyone can even learn brass instruments in a country where even conversation is usually in library tones.

After a truly cramped train ride into Osaka about which the less said, the better, we made it to our cute apartment in Morinomiya. After a cozy evening of delicious pasta and our first video games of the trip (Mario Kart!) we turned in happily.