Kyoto

Nine days learning to notice smaller and smaller things.

Kyoto rewards patience and quietly punishes hurry. So the route is built around the edges of the day: temple gardens at opening, when the moss is still wet and the gravel is unmarked; the northern hills in the afternoon; the lantern-lit lanes of Pontochō after dark, where dinner is eight courses and none of them are large. There's a morning with a potter in Gojōzaka and an unhurried train out to Kurama when the city gets loud. Bring shoes that slip off easily.