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Holy carp, my legs are killing me! We did a lot of walking/hiking today. We couldn't sleep very well, so we got up at 5 again. The bed here at Khaosan Kyoto is awful. It is a box spring box with a thin comforter over top of it and a starchy sheet to cover yourself with, which we don't need since our room is either freezing cold with 99% humidity, or warm, but tolerable, with the window open. We did learn that we like walking around earlier in the day, anyway, since the crowds of people swarm the streets after 5, and it's much more fun when they're all at work and school.
We got to eat breakfast at a nearby toast cafe (yup, the main menu item is a meal with a type of toast being the main dish). I got a regular butter toast with a poached egg. Jeph got honey toast. They also had cinnamon, jam, whip cream and chocolate, egg and bacon, and some other yummy choices.
Once things started to open, we decided to visit Kiyomizu-dera first. I always loved this temple, and it was again great. Alas, it seems fall is the time to do renovations, since the main entrance was being renovated. The rest was beautiful, and I made sure to give my thanks, and money donations, to the love rock area where I bought my love charms (and gave the other half to Jeff). We now have a charm for a "good and happy marriage". I also made sure to stop by my favorite stationary store and buy my usual bunny rabbit card. He is so cute! I also picked up a dragon ema to take home.
After going back to the hostel we took a quick lunch break and ate at the local kaiten-zushi. I definitely out-ate Jeph with the sushi plates! It definitely hit the spot!
We then went to the Fushimi-Inari Shrine. I had never been there, so I was super excited! It really is a gorgeous place, but HUGE! I thought the trail of torii gates extended a short way, but I think we ended up walking about 8 miles on it. And the trail makes its way UP the mountain, so it was a big workout. In the end, we got to see some really old and cool little shrines.
And since I guess we felt we hadn't walked enough, we decided to spend the rest of the evening walking around Gion, a more traditional area with expensive and traditional restaurants and a place to see actual geisha. Now, I was wary because there are a lot of places that will dress you up as a geisha, so we saw a few of those girls outside some stores, but I'm pretty sure real geisha don't pose for pictures with peace signs. The picture I took is of what I think is a Maiko, someone just learning to be a geisha. She was hurrying and stopping for no one. I also saw a possible geisha get into a train of nice taxis pulled up on the sidewalk, right up to a swanky restaurant's front door.
Then our legs turned into wooden planks and our backs turned into pain, so we went back to the hostel to do some laundry.
Anything from you Jeph?
So many Torii /
Those silly orange archways /
Mori-Torii-um.
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