Today is the middle of a three-day weekend, one that happens to fall just as the fall colors are really getting going, so Kyoto was absolutely packed to the gills with tourists. Fumie and I both felt much better from our colds today, so we decided to take the opportunity to get out of town.

We went for a drive in the same general direction as we did with Fumie's folks three weeks ago, into the mountains to the northwest of Kyoto. This time we had a specific destination, the Hiyoshi Dam (which, in case you've never heard of it, [...]

Well, I seem to have come down with a cold, and so I spent almost all day sleeping. Up now at midnight with just enough energy to stare blankly at the screen, so I'll just post a few pictures from yesterday to brighten my day (er, my night) before heading back to bed.

The entrance way to the small restaurant next to our place has a tree that we can see the top of from our livingroom window, and each year at about this time, it turns all kinds of fiery reds and oranges.

We just see the top, but [...]

The Eizan Train Line (eizan dentetsu, or eiden for short) is a little train line that runs from north-east Kyoto up into the mountains to the village of Kurama, just past Kibune. I've posted about Kibune many times, most recently a week ago when I visited with Thomas, although the area is known more for its summertime dining over the river and, er, noodle fishing. Anyway, despite having gone up that way many times, I'd never taken the train, until today.

Fumie's been under the weather for the last week or two, but felt good enough today that we all [...]

It's that time of year again in Kyoto where the trees turn beautiful colors, and the City of Kyoto races to erase them from the face of the earth.

Several miles of street in this area are lined with Ginkgo trees, and each year the city strips them naked like this, working down one side of each street, then up the other. I've heard that this is done because stripping the trees like this is easier than cleaning up the leaves. I dunno. Seems strange.

All but the first shot above are from yesterday. The sun was out a bit [...]

A few more shots from yesterday evening's visit to the Eikando Temple's lightup event....

In the shot above, you can see a lady in a kimono slightly left of center, holding up her cell phone to photograph the red leaves. She's the one in this shot from yesterday. I tried to include her in my pictures while she was taking pictures, because generally speaking, I like the kimono. I realize now, though, that you can't really see the kimono in the closer shots (some taken at 1/20th of a sec handheld as ISO 6400!)...