Back at the foot of the whole thing I paused yet again, and when the touring party had again attained a quorum inquired whether there was anything else on the agenda.
No, I was told, there wasn't, unless I was inclined to eat.
Since we'd set out before breakfast and hadn't managed to find it along the way, the prospect of food was definitely tempting, but there was one more ascent needed to get us back up to the bus stop, and I wasn't sure how frequently the buses ran. There was a packet of raisin bread rolls we'd bought the night before in the backpack which would, I figured, have to be eaten some time, so my take on the situation was get ourselves up the hill, check, out the bus times, and eat if possible.
That packet of raisin rolls would have to be eaten somewhere, and it was highly likely we'd have a lengthy wait once the ascent had been made.
That was, as it turned out, close to the situation we found when we arrived. There was about half an hour until the next Kyoto Bus, but a JR bus would be heading up from Kozan-ji in about five minutes. There was already a fair sized queue for that one, and since it had started elsewhere there was no guarantee we'd get a seat on the forty-five minute trip back into the city.
That was the way it turned out once the bus arrived, and so we headed over to the rival stop, positioned ourselves at the front of the queue and bunched on the packet of raisin rolls. Once the bus arrived we picked up the same Hughesy's legs friendly seats we'd had on the way up and, incidentally, sailed straight through the difficult intersection that had slowed things down significantly on the way up.
The bus dropped us off just past the hotel, and once we were there the thoughts, predictably, turned to lunch. It was around one by this stage, and updates on the Sponge situation suggested we'd be eating late when it came to the evening meal, so lunch was a matter of some urgency.
A packet of raisin bread rolls is all very well, but after significant exercise with the prospect of a night on the turps you need something substantial in the way of lunch. There was a ramen place marked on the Eateries around the neighbourhood map Madam had procured from the Front Desk, so we headed off in that direction. There was, however, a perfectly acceptable alternative just around the corner that did exactly what was required.
Back at the hotel again, Madam needed to head off to do a bit of shopping while Hughesy sat in the lobby, doing what needed to be done on line before heading back upstairs for further travelogue tapping.
We weren't expecting any further Sponge updates until well after six-thirty, since the day's show in Himeji had involved road, rather than rail transport, which in turn meant they had to drive back, unpack the van, head home and make subsequent arrangements once they'd touched base there.
Eventually, however, the rendezvous was arranged for the East Gate at Karasuma station, so we headed along there around eight, and by twenty past were headed off for a return visit to the place we'd spent the equivalent evening four and a half years earlier.
This time around the dramatis personae were the inimitable Sponge, the young lass we'd christened Double Sponge, and Take, an enthusiastic young bloke who announced himself to be Triple Sponge, but didn't quite manage to live up to the self-proclaimed status. Mind you, given the capacity of his colleagues, most people would experience a degree of difficulty in that department.
By the same token, it was a late start, and with the regulation array of platters on the table things flowed along nicely without hitting any great heights in the alcoholic consumption department and the trio's need to catch the final train for the evening meant that most of us probably ended up in bed in much better shape than would otherwise have been the case.