Kyoto with Ella - day four

We headed out to the western outskirts of Kyoto today. Arashiyama is popular with visitors because of its riverside setting, its beautiful temples and shrines, it's extensive gardens and most of all for its famous bamboo grove. The bamboo grove was our first stop at Arashiyama this morning.

On our previous visits the paths through the bamboo forest have been crowded with people - but today was not too crowded at all!

My bamboo grove shot of the day ...............

We also visited the gardens of the Tenryu-ji (Zen Buddhism) Temple which is one of the oldest temple gardens in Japan and a designated UNESCO site.

Climbing higher into the mountains we found the Jojakko-ji Temple, which I remembered from a previous visit for its steep, understated gardens and its mesmorising bell ringer.

To get to Arashiyama's Katsura River we had to make our way down Nagatsuji-dori (street), avoiding all the tour groups, rickshaw drivers and crowded shops and cafes along the way. 

This is our last full day of enjoying being tourists in Japan so we're making sure we sample all our favourite Japanese treats one last time. Matcha icecreams were eaten along Nagatsuji-dori and Ella took the opportunity to sample one of these pickled cucumbers on a stick. She pronounced it a delicious snack.

The Katsura River ........

Arashiyama's famous and picturesque Togetsu-kyo Bridge .........

We are going to miss seeing Japan's decorative drain covers when we leave ........

And the incredibly efficient use of small spaces ..........

We decided to have a feast of all our favourite Japanese snack foods for our late lunch & dinner tonight. Ella is an inspired 7-11 shopper ..........

And we finally got our timing right for a dumpling meal from our old fave 551 Horai from Kyoto Station.

.. and dessert snacks in abundance ......

We're heading back to Tokyo tomorrow and staying overnight at a Haneda airport hotel ready for an early morning flight back to Australia on Monday morning. We have loved our time with Ella in Japan and felt so lucky to have her upbeat company, quirky perspective on things, long conversations, keen observations and complete confidence handling navigation and vending machines!! It's just been wonderful.....

Kyoto with Ella - day three

We woke to a sunny clear sky day here in Kyoto today, with the promise of a 14oC max day. We started the day slowly with breakfast in our little apartment and a good coffee afterwards at a coffee shop in the Aeon Mall next door. 

Ella has a friend who is also visiting Japan with his family and we were all amazed to meet them as they were walking to their their hotel after having just arrived (by Shinkansen) from Osaka, an amazing coincidence considering this is a city of 1.4 million people and Kyoto Station must be one of the busiest areas in this city.

For us it was a perfect day to see Kinkakuji, the so called Golden Pavillion, a World Heritage listed Zen temple in northern Kyoto. The top two floors of this temple are completely covered in gold leaf - and it was all really sparkling in the sunshine this morning.

The temple started life as a retirement villa for a powerful Shogun - becoming a Zen temple, according to the Shogun's will, after his death in 1408. It has burned down numerous times throughout its history, most recently in 1950 when a fanatical monk set it alight. The present structure was rebuilt in 1955. Apparently it took 20kg of gold leaf to complete the gilded finish at that time. 

Kinkakuji was built to echo the extravagant culture of the aristocracy in the Shogun's times. We all remarked on how the Trump era is echoing all these grandiose dreams too - just not with the same level of taste.

We walked around the temple gardens which are still in their centuries old layout. People throw coins at these small groups of statues for good luck!

We loved the detailing on this Edo era teahouse in the temple grounds.

I also love this pic of Ella striding out in one of the many lines of the massive Kyoto Railway Station. She has incredible aptitude for noting detail and a great sense of direction. So she has become our natural travel leader working out the sometimes very complex and confusing (but very efficient) Japanese public transport system. 

The big historic sites in Kyoto are very spread out so we have been very dependent on the train and bus system to get around. Ella is owning this particular space!

As well as all its other attractions Kyoto Station has a floor of street style ramen restaurants on its 10th floor. We tried one today for our late lunch. It was delicious of course. We are all really enjoying the food on offer here and the long conversations we can share over our regular coffee and food stops.

We did some more exploring around the older streets and arcades of Kyoto downtown in the late afternoon. I avoided buying a kimono and Ella avoided looking for more vintage treasures even though there were definite opportunities there.

Kyoto with Ella - day two

The famous Fushimi Inari Shrine is only two stops away from our hotel by local train, so it was easy making our way there today (along with hundreds of other visitors).

This Shinto shrine is famous for its thousands of orange (officially vermillion) torii gates which straddle a network of trails behind the main Shrine building. The trails lead up to the sacred Mount Inari.

Ella and I were in charge of working out where to start.........

Fushimi Inari is dedicated to Inari the Shinto god of rice. Foxes are thought to be Inari's messengers. Foxes are a constant theme throughout the grounds of this shrine.

This is the second day that Ella has been doing the big step count in her Doc Martens - they are finally being worn in - and Mount Inari proves it!

The torii gates along the entire trail are donated by individuals and companies. The donor's name and the date of the donation are inscribed on the back of each gate.. Apparently the donation amount starts at around $4,000AUD for a smaller gate and increases to $10,000AUD for a large gate.

We found this small private shrine area halfway up the mountain and were intrigued to see people making offerings and prayers at their own family shrines. 

This shrine decoration was made from thousands (and thousands) of tiny origami paper cranes

Now to work out how to get down the mountain...........

We found our lunch at one of the restaurants on the 11th floor of Kyoto Station today - after raving to Ella that Kyoto Station is a world unto itself and worthy of at least a day's visit for its own sake. It was a great lunch (yakitori with side dishes)!

We headed back up to the city after our very late lunch and Ella and Rob were very patient while I took a good look at my fave Nomura Tailor, Kyoto's famous fabric store ...........

So they were very deserving of this matcha soft serve afterwards - one of Kyoto's best!!

We ended off the day with a shop at our next door supermarket. It's fun working out if what we're buying will be edible!!