Summer 12: Kimono and Fushimi Inari

This was our last day in Kyoto... :( But it was a fun day! :)

We started out the day in Gion. We went to a kimono rental place called Yume Kimono. 

We picked out the kimonos and accessories that we wanted. It was so much fun to watch them dress us. It's a very complicated process. There are many layers and belts and things to tie. 

We also had our hair done. :)

Despite the heat, we went outside to walk around and take pictures. Luckily, Yasaka Shrine is right next door so we didn't have to go far to find good backdrops for our pictures.

The kimonos were pretty hot, but not as hot as I expected. Maybe that's just because I'd be sweating no matter what I was wearing.

Everything is more dramatic when wearing a kimono. By the way, I LOVE peach Fanta. It's amazing. I'm not a big soda drinker, but this stuff is a bit addicting.

Next we visited Fushimi Inari Shrine. Unfortunately we didn't get to walk the whole trail (there are waaaaay more torii gates than seen here!) because we had to catch a train to get back to Toi.

I definitely want to go back to Fushimi Inari next time I'm in Kyoto. I plan on going back to Kyoto in the fall to see the fall colors!

Please check out more pictures from my time in Kyoto, Nara, and Osaka!
Click here for the pictures!

Read More

Summer 11: Nara and Osaka

On the 24th we took a trip to Nara and Osaka. We started out the day heading for Fushimi Inari shrine (which is in Kyoto), but we got on an express train which skipped the stop we needed. So, we just headed for Nara first instead.

We went to Nara Park, which is famous for its deer. I bought some senbei (crackers) for them. I wasn't really sure how the deer would react to the crackers. I figured that since so many tourists feed the deer that they might be sick of the crackers. I was sooooo wrong. As soon as I bought them the deer started coming towards me. They were trying to take the crackers from me. It was a little bit scary, but a lot of fun! 

I bought an interesting drink from a vending machine. It didn't even sound good, but I wanted it because it was weird. It's Minute Maid Aloe and White Grape. It was strange because it had a bunch of jello pieces in it. The juice itself wasn't bad, but the jello wasn't so great. It wouldn't have been too bad if there had only been a few pieces here and there, but it was like half jello, half juice. I still drank (ate?) it all, but I wont be buying it again.

Then we headed towards Todaiji Temple which is famous for its giant Buddha statue. On the way we saw tons of deer.

The deer don't like old women with canes or little girls with pigtails.

Todaiji Temple! It's big!

The giant Buddha was a bit bigger than I expected!

I love the various manhole covers found in different cities. Nara's is really cute!

This deer is very well behaved! He's crossing (well, attempting to cross) at the deer crossing sign!

Here are a couple more pictures of the freaky mascot. 

Oh, yeah... this sign reminds me that Nara is celebrating its 1300th anniversary. So old!

After visiting Nara, we took the train to Osaka, which is Japan's 3rd largest city. Tokyo is number one and Yokohama is number 3. Now I've been to the three biggest cities in Japan.

We went to Osaka Castle. It's a fairly recent reconstruction (completed in 1997), but it's still cool. I really liked the view of the moat with the city in the distance.

We then tried to find Dotonbori, a street that runs along a canal. It took us a while to find, but we finally found it!

Some guy was taking his lizard for a walk. His back was towards me until I tried to take a picture of course. So I quickly moved my camera and so it's blurry. Boo. :(

You can get a lot of things from vending machines... even haircuts!

Then we headed back to Kyoto! We just had one last day in Kyoto. :(

Read More

Summer 10: Kyoto Tour

On the 23rd we took a tour Kyoto. We saw a ton of places in one day! 

I'm pretty much just going to show a few pictures from each place. I'm too lazy to mention anything about the significance of any of these places, so I'll just link to the wikipedia articles for each one in case you are interested. Just click on the names of the places to visit the links.

First we visited Nijo Castle.

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but it was really cool. The floors made a chirping/squeaking sound. There are clamps on the underside of the wooden planks so that the floors make this noise. It was for security.

Next we went to Kinkakuji, also known as the Golden Pavilion. It's a very photogenic building!

Our third stop was the Imperial Palace. Our tour group was escorted by police and we were not allowed to lag behind and had to stay with the group. I loved the bright red buildings!

After visiting the Imperial Palace, the first part of our tour was over. We went to the Kyoto handicraft center and ate lunch and looked in the various souvenir shops. I really enjoyed the drink viking (viking is their word for buffet) because I could mix orange juice and sprite. Mmmm! I ended up eating a ton of pasta and pineapple. Fruit is very expensive in Japan so I took advantage of having as much pineapple as I wanted! :)

The second half of our tour began at the Heian Shrine. This was probably my favorite place that I visited in Kyoto (it's a bit hard to pick a favorite though). I just really really really like the bright colors and this place also had a nice garden!

This video isn't the greatest, but it will give you an idea of how the place is laid out.

You can get a fortune on a slip of paper. If it's bad, you tie it up on a tree.

I loved this bridge!

Ooooh, a crane!

Next we visited Sanjusangen-do. I don't have any pictures from the inside, but there were 1001 statues. There's a small picture in the wikipedia article.

This picture is the outside of the building and our tour guide with her "pom-pom" on a stick.

This was near the building with the statues. I liked the colors of course.

Our final destination was Kiyomizudera. It has a cool view of the city. I've heard that it's really popular in the fall because of all the maple trees. I definitely want to go back to Kyoto in the fall.

We arrived back at Kyoto Station after the tour finished. We walked around the station and came across this really really really awesome waterfall. It has all sorts of patterns!!!!

Then we walked to a nearby mall. I played Mario Kart in the arcade. Yay!

Read More