Matcha Parfait and Hanatouro

Sometime while I was in Kyoto last summer, I was introduced to the brilliance of matcha soft serve ice cream, and have been craving it ever since returning to America. Luckily, I ran into a friend from Doshisha within 20 minutes of wandering around the shopping area across from my hostel, and she agreed to guide me to the most scrumptious matcha parfait I have ever eaten. The line to go inside came down from the second floor of the shop and wrapped a good way onto the sidewalk, but it was sooooo worth the wait. I now present a picture for ogling purposes.

Yeah, it was damn good.

Then at night, I went with Mikachu to Hanatouro. It's basically light up at various temples around the Kyoto area. There were lanterns everywhere, and also ikebana displays and and random blow up things.

For example, Orochimaru:

And while I'm sure this is actually something legitimate, that's really all I could think of. I also apologize for making an anime reference that most of you won't understand at all. =P

Basically, a super great day! 日本が大好き！