祇園祭の宵山！ Gion Festival float viewing & food stalls

二年ぶり開催の祇園祭。初めて見た！ 烏丸通の四条ー御池通、その周りの路地もどーんと歩行者天国にして、鉾や山を見たり、屋台がたくさんあったり、レストランも賑わっていた。こんなにたくさんの人を京都で見たのは本当に久しぶりだった。すごい人…。だいたいどこも左側通行になっていて、みんなルールをよく守ってえらい。

鉾は提灯で飾られていて、博多山笠に通じるものがあって懐かしかった。

I ended up going to the night market and float viewing on Friday night - got a last minute invite and let's do it! A perfect way to start a long three day weekend!  A large area of the city center was blocked just for pedestrians, and it was so crowded with people viewing the floats and getting food from the food stalls.  I have never seen Kyoto in this lively atomosphere for a long time.  Interesting to see various restaurants selling carry-out food as well.  

What impresed me was that almost everyone followed the rule of walking on the left side, as traffic normally do.  So it was safe to stroll around without bumping into others despite it being so crowded.  People are quite well-organized here.. 

The floats on the street, ready to be drawn on Sunday, reminded me the similar event in Fukuoka, Hakata Yamakasa festival, which also takes place sometime in summer.  It was one of the main attractions that we took international exchange students to.  Those were the days..!

just a random thought, but why don't we have  exchange programs between domestic universities?  It would be an experience to make new friends and expand your holizen.  It would be beneficial especially for collage students in less populated prefectures.  That's an idea!  I would've loved that.          

交通の要所、烏丸通を歩く！ Karasuma St. is one of the most important roads in Kyoto city, and it's now closed for traffic.  Wow.  

ぷにょ pu-nyo..

薙刀鉾！ Naginata, a long sward on top of it. 

Shake Shack があった！！！ （アメリカのチェーンレストラン）

極めて日本的なShake Shack...  Shake Shack selling Matcha shake.  How American is that! 

ベトナムDIY春巻き! レモングラスに巻かれた肉が美味しかったです。DIY spring rolls at a Vietnamese restaurant.  Yummy! 

鉾は奥の町家と繋がっていて、人が出入りしている。その鉾の家紋？のついた浴衣を来ているので皆さん関係者か… 高い鉾の上から眺める人混みは面白いでしょうな。

The top part of the float is connected to the second floor of the house in the back, and some people wearing Yukata (summer kimono) walking over the bridge to get on to the float.  They seem to be just chilling out up there on the float.  It must be quite a view of the crowd from above.  I do not think they are tourists, as they are all wearing the same yukata with the symbol that's also printed on the float.  They may be float teammates.