Bread & Breakfast

Across the street from The New Miyako, where we’re staying, await about a dozen bakeries, called panya, that delight us at every turn. And I do mean turn. Every time we return from one of our outings, snaking through the maze of corridors in the Kyoto train station, a new panya seems to come into view, or at least one we didn’t notice earlier.

Suffice to say that, with all of the walking and climbing we’re doing, a little carbo-loading isn’t such a bad thing.

The bakeries vary from our everyday stop at Mister Donut, with its light and balanced pastries (in contrast to some of the famous-franchise sugar bombs back home) to more intentionally French-styled stops.  I’ve been trying to sample as many shops as possible.  It is a worthy pursuit, even if I’m not going to succeed.

Sadie Stafford, Emmy Kean and Julia Jacobs grab some bread.

What to try today . . .

Can't eat ramen at every meal. This was lunch today: minnestrone and a French sando. In academic terms, we can describe this as another case of cultural appropriation -- moving the global to the local. We find the French version imbued with Japanese taste and values. My kind of hybridity.