Down time

I now have some time to myself. Kris left yesterday, and while we had a great time, I need some quiet time. It seemed like we were always on the move when I finished work- going to a temple, going shopping, meeting people for dinner, etc. and now I just want to be a hermit. So I made myself some edamame and miso soup and am not going to talk to anyone for the next couple of days. I have a jigsaw puzzle and a lot of apartment to clean, so I should keep busy enough.
Like I said, though, Kris and I had a really good time. We went to Kyoto and saw the temples and shrines. The leaves were starting to change there, so it was pretty nice. Then we came back to Kakamigahara, only to leave for Tokyo the next day. As exciting as Tokyo seemed it would be, I guess we were a little disappointed. We did a LOT of walking. We first went to Meiji Shrine, which is a nice, quiet shrine/park right in the middle of the chaos of the city. This was the only planned stop we made the whole trip. Instead of taking the train from stop to stop, we thought we would find interesting things walking between stops. While this worked occasionally, we definitely wasted our time. For example: there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING between the electronics district and Tokyo Station. It may not have helped that it was a national holiday- we only saw a handful of people on that walk (in a city of over 12 million). We did find interesting areas with small shops and a lot of pop culture in other areas, but next time I will plan the trip a little better.
The days are finally getting colder here. I hope I can handle it. The little wall-mounted air conditioner doubles as a heater, but as soon as I turn it off, the apartment drops about 15 degrees. I guess I need to invest in a lot more warm clothing. I just need to remember- it will never get as cold as Logan.

The leaves in Kyoto.

An interesting structure at a temple in Kyoto. We never figured out what it was.

Kyomizu temple.

Somewhere in Tokyo.