WHERE I STAYED: KYOTO

Everyone has their favorite place. But again and again, we return to Hotel Mitsui in the Kakagyo ward.

From the lobby that opens onto its vast water garden, to the way they bring you your laundry folded like origami or the toasted pumpkin slices at its buffet breakfast or the natural spring onsens that are more effective than any digestif, the Mitsui is the gift that keeps giving around the clock.

Most of all is its location: tucked off a side street near the Nijo castle (seen from its many rooms' windows).

You can feel like a pampered tourist here and watch its hourly matcha tea ceremony.

Or act like a local: Every morning we get bikes the hotel has waiting and then explore Kyoto's many quiet side streets without ever seeing another tourist.

We pop into shops during the ensuing hours for bowls of cappuccino, lacquered bowls, bowls of udon noodles.

We buy vintage sake bottles to be used as vases when we get home, vintage postcards to be used for special notes, vintage kimonos for pajama wear, vintage trays to hold iPhones…and so on. The stops are endless and spontaneous, and we often return as it’s getting dark, our handlebars laden with packages.

I love the rows of tiny homes with their tidy and sometimes whimsical plant life outside and imagine the cozy interior family life within.

Once our hotel room phone rang at 11PM: it was the concierge profusely apologizing that the bikes we had ordered the next morning for 9:30am would not be ready until 9:40am.

That’s Japan for you and definitely the Mitsui.

PS: We bike everywhere but taxi tip: if it’s red light displayed its AVAILABLE not taken!