Lost, even before sake tasting.

After an elaborate breakfast -- this would be easy to get used to -- we made our way to the Nishiki Market, a narrow walk between fish, fruit, vegetables and flowers covered by a stained glass roof. The market includes stores that specialize in prepared foods, too, from boxes of pastel candies to fried shrimp. One sold tofu, but also small doughnuts, 10 to a bag. Restaurants are tucked here and there. As is the custom, there are plastic models of the dishes in displays out front.

Next it was off to Nijo castle, a moat-ringed structure that must cover several modern city blocks. It dates to the shogun period. Inside a second wall was a dark building we could tour, padding along the wooden halls in our socks. The floors were made to squeak -- the better to hear a would-be assassin. Painted sliding screens depict trees and hawks and tigers and cherry blossoms over golden backgrounds. The ceilings, too, were painted with care. Here the shogun could allow for the visit of a warlord under the watchful eye of bodyguards just a step away behind the screens. Outside are neatly tended gardens, including a pond with a waterfall. Many Japanese snapped photos with camera phones or, in more than one case, set up a tripod for a special portrait.

Walking around the park, we spotted a trio of maiko (apprentice geisha) entertaining men at a picnic table in the park.

We took a taxi to the new Kyoto International Manga Museum, which was set up in a former school that dated back more than a century. There were displays of cartoon and comic art, but most popular of all seemed the shelves and shelves of manga. Visitors fished out books, then sat down and read. Manga, it appears, are being accepted more and more as a legitimate part of Japanese culture, real art rather than just comics to be read and tossed away.

Next, we got lost, which seems to be something for which we have a knack. Our cab driver didn’t recognize the name of our next stop. So we gave him the name of a nearby temple. Problem solved? Not really, because wasn’t that just the river we crossed? Were we supposed to cross the river? Once on foot in the right neighborhood, the fun continued until, now late for our appointment (a sin if you’re Japanese), we called our calligraphy teacher and asked for help. Turns out, we had almost been standing in the shadow of her building, but there were no English characters to let us know we were there.

Tomo turned out to be a fun and encouraging teacher, giving us a little applause whether or not we deserved it. She showed us a few basic strokes with the brush, then turned us lose to try to reproduce characters. We each made a couple to take home. More importantly, we gained an even greater appreciation for the skill of master calligraphers.

Tomo then led us on a 10-minute walk to a nondescript wooden building that was home to a sake brewery for decades. Now that brewing and beer brewing are done off-site, but the old house is a now a museum to the art of sake. Out back is the original spring which, in the middle of the city, keeps producing the clean water needed for production. With Tomo translating, a woman from the brewery gave us an unexpected tour of the house. Like the many other old homes in Kyoto, it’s called an eel house for its skinny shape. They were built that way because property taxes were assessed based on the width of a building at the street. We were shown where the brewery would entertain special clients and the attic space where the servants lives. We even learned that the vertical vents on such buildings are not just a clever way to let cool air in and to see out well while preventing others from seeing in; it turns out that the shape of the vertical slats indicated to a passerby just what sort of business was behind them. Then it was time for sake tasting. We tasted three types, each with a bite of food. Wonderful, wonderful stuff.

After dinner, we walked from our ryokan through the Yasaka shrine, protecting the Gion area and its geisha. The shrine borders Marayuma park, with several food stalls set up along the walkways.  The park features an old weeping cherry blossom tree (shidarezakura, in Japanese), lit up in the evenings while the sakura are out.  Walking around the park, we spotted a trio of maiko (apprentice geisha) entertaining men at a picnic table in the park.  Tourists swarmed the group, despite stern warnings and a lot of yelling by the food proprietor.  It was only a few days later, courtesy of the New York Times, that we discovered Kyoto is considering adopting a campaign to protect geisha from tourists.