Finally saw Kyoto!

Lately, I've come to realize more and more that I've actually been away for sometime. It struck me the other day when my first roll of toilet paper ran out. As a man living alone, this takes a significant amount of time. Then I had to clear some food out of my fridge because it had gone bad. Over the last few months I've barely stayed in one place long enough to let food spoil.
The rapid passing of time must be largely attributed to my research - I've been so busy working that a week will go by before I have a chance to call my family.
I was actually looking forward to having a bit more free time after coming to Japan. No social engagements, no extracurriculars... just work. I've never had the opportunity to be so focused on one thing in all my life.
But of course that isn't the way it ever works out for me. Obviously I try to take on as much as I can and fit the most into each day.
Between my Japanese classes on Tuesday nights, Basketball on Wednesday, cycling on the weekends and running any other day I can, I think I'm as busy as I ever was.
Being busy itself seems to accelerate time. I think mostly because you don't really have much time to sit and think about time passing. Days become so full of activities, that when you do finally take a moment to reflect, there is so much to reflect on!
So am I all that surprised that this past weekend was the first time I made it into Kyoto City? No, not really.
I some sense I was kind of saving it. Kyoto is famous for the immense number of temples, gardens and shrines that weren't bombed into oblivion during WWII. It's basically considered the cultural centre of Japan.
I've been to nearby Nara and Osaka and enjoyed them both - but Kyoto is in a class all its own. I suppose I was sort of saving the best for last.
It's interesting too, I just started reading 'Memoirs of a Geisha' which is of course set in Kyoto so seeing the areas discussed in the book was particularly interesting.
Fall in Japan is quite funny. I don't think I've seen a bigger to do about leaves changing colour! There are all these websites and magazines devoted to updating everyone on the status of the leaves in a certain area. You can essentially track the changing of the leaves from North to South through Japan.
Tokyo is at its peak right now, but where I am here is a bit south so the leaves are just starting to turn.
So I checked out part of Kyoto this past weekend, but I think I will likely return for the next two weekends so I can see what all the excitement is about with the leaves!
I'm in the process of organizing photos so there will be more soon I promise! Ha ha.
Actually, my camera doesn't seem to be functioning optimally right now so I'm going to have to take it in and see if they can fix it (it's under warranty but this isn't a good sign!).
I've got to make sure it works well for leaf pictures next weekend!
Hope everyone reading this is doing well! Love to all and Happy Hallowe'en.