J2 – Gary Comes to Japan! Part 3

Day two in Kyoto! Possibly the most photogenic 🙂

Oh boy was it pretty! We went first to Fushimi-inari shrine. The one you always see in the photos with the millions of red gates! It was pouring down, but we walked there from home because it wasn’t too far and we had a nice river to follow most of the way 🙂 The shrine is actually on the side of a mountain, and goes up quite a way. We spent a good few hours there in all, and got plenty soaking!

The river we followed to the shrine

There was quite the queue, despite the rain

So many gates!

Peeing it down, but the size of those gates was incredible

There really are millions

Down

Up

Peekaboo! I see a theme for this trip

Heart ❤

Snail friend 🙂 Love the macro on my camera

Gary!

Mitch blur. He’s a ninja, so getting him on camera is quite hard.

Again, what a view!

getting all the people gone for these took time, but was worth it.

Posing with my snail friend

This was as far up as we got. Time restrictions meant we didn’t go to the top but it was still pretty as heck.

Fox shaped! Some of the designs were actually just creepy, but this one is great 🙂

We walked down the main street leading up to the shrine for lunch. I got some dango, we ate some strange mochi/flour balls which mitch really loved, ice cream (of course) and then found a cute cafe for some cheese on toast. I say toast… but in Japan they see plain old bread as this crazy luxury thing, so our bread was about an inch and a half thick.

Tofu ice cream 🙂

GIANT cheese on toast

The next stop was Kiyomizudera, another very famous and pretty temple. We ended up going the back way somehow and went through a huge cemetary, half of which had slid down in a mini landslide, so it felt a bit like we’d gone the wrong way! This was one of the ones Gary really like the look of, with its three water stream things to drink from for fortune. But apparently you’re only supposed to drink from up to two… or something. The water was freezing! But really tasty. So who knows; even if my health doesn’t improve, I didn’t dehydrate at least 😉 There was a particularly cool place to sit and have some more shaved ice on the side of a cliff over a river on some tatami matting… so naturally we stopped for a break before heading to dinner.

The cemetery on the way to Kiyomizudera

This guy sold me my fist ever maple tree! It’s adorable and I love it. Gary actually got it for me as my belated birthday present, so I have something to remember Kyoto all the time now ^^

DRAGONS!

So pretty

Look at its majesty.

Hi!

I said to go hug Gary for a photo. Mitch is far too adorable.

On the main deck type thingy

The temple grounds

The side of the mountain view that this place is famous for

Pagoda for fun

The three streams

Only pick two!

Waiting for our shaved ice in the covered tatami place

yum!

Dinner was a bit of a mission. We hoped to just find somewhere, but poor Mitch was really suffering with his wet feet. We went into a shopping bit to find him some second hand shoes but there wasn’t much to eat there. Eventually we found an info centre and the guy there helped us find an okonomiyaki place. It tasted fine, but boy was it out of the way and a little empty…. All part of the adventure 🙂 Mitch decided for sure that he didn’t really like okonomiyaki that night. Gary was a bit bewildered but seemed to like it! We went for a wander in the night before turning in; the river near the restaurant was lovely.

Hugely overflowing

The crazy restaurant that seemed as bewildered to have us as we were to have to shout down the stairs to order!

Yuummmm

Gary getting into it 🙂

Bonus picture of the day’s loot!

Biscuits for work, shrine maps, a new pouch for my camera, and my new momiji!

Isn’t it adorable?!