;)
Rain streaming down endlessly, we began our morning with much-needed beauty sleep. Today was deemed a free day; allowed to wake up as we chose, most of us, unsurprisingly, chose to sleep in as late as possible. Our shoes were still a bit damp from yesterday, and the sky gave no hope of drying them out any time soon; in Kyoto it rained from sun up to sun down.
As per the unsatisfactory weather, some of our number chose to utilize the free day for catching up on reading, managing photos, or contacting family and friends. Others, less inhibited by the rain, ventured out into the soggy city to sketch, shop at our group's favored Japanese dollar store, or simply walk around to escape our hotel.
In the evening, some of the group went downtown and had an interesting dining experience. Upon entering the establishment, they found a vending machine that displayed dinner options, which ranged from individual selections to entire meals, that they paid for and were in turn given a ticket. The waitress collected the tickets once they seated themselves, and in a Jetson-like fashion they were delivered their food. The waitress struggled with explaining the concept of bottomless bowls of rice, just as they struggled with understanding why a vending machine should replace a waitress. The highlight of the night was the waitress' comical explanation: "Many, many rice, eat, okay."
Although the day was not as eventful as our other days in Japan, the group concurred that the rest and rejuvenation was well needed and well deserved.