We headed to Kyoto using public transportation again with our giant bags...again. It is definitely an experience to lug around 20 kilo bags in trains full of working businessmen and school children. I definitely can't wait to be home again and not need to lug around my bag everywhere I go! We arrived in Kyoto and met up with our couchsurfing host! We decided in Kyoto we would have the real Japanese experience, also Kyoto is very expensive and this is a great cheap way to travel! So far we have loved couchsurfing and Kyoto was no exception! Our host was a friendly 26 year old guy who was born and raised in Kyoto, he had just spent 9 months in Australia and wanted to keep working on his English! So we traded English speaking for a free bed for two nights!
We only had one full day in Kyoto so it was packed. Lots to see and do in this city. But not only that, we also had a Typhoon that was rolling through. We were not deterred! We put on our rain jackets and grabbed an umbrella and headed out the door to our first stop Nijo Castle.
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| Nijo Castle |
Unfortunately Nijo Castle was closed due to weather AKA Typhoon Halong! Our next stop was Kinkakuji Temple. We took a hop-on-hop-off bus for the whole day. This was a nice way to see lots of the sights in one day and stay somewhat dry!
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| Golden Pavilion |
Kinkakuji Temple in an a beautiful area surrounded by lots of amazing trees, mountains, and gardens.
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| Pretty Cool Waterfall! |
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| Nice Stairs |
Our second stop was Ginkaku-ji. Another very famous sight in Kyoto. This was built by the grandson of the guy who built the last one so it is somewhat similar but this one has the Silver Pagoda and not the Golden One. This had a really cool forest track that lead into the hills where you got a view of the city!
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| Silver Pagoda! |
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| It's Still Raining... |
After spending more time in the rain we headed to downtown Kyoto for lunch. We found this great sushi train place online so we decided to try it out. By the time we got there we were soaked because this was the worst part of the rain! We headed into the restaurant enjoyed our free green tea to warm up and ate LOTS of sushi!
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| Sushi Train |
After lunch we headed back to the route where our bus would pick us up. This involved crossing a bridge, which was over a crazy flooded river. The water was so high and the current was very strong. It was fun, but a little scary, to watch, especially while on the bridge!
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| Look At That Water! |
After crossing the river we wondered around the streets for a couple hours enjoying the sights and stumbling into some other temples and towers.
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| Tall Tower! |
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| More Amazing Architecture |
We finally hopped back on the bus and ended up at the Kyoto train station. Here we were going to catch the JR line to Fushimi Inari Taisha unfortunately due to weather the train was not running. This was quite a bummer! Luckily we were on time to catch a bus which takes longer, but still takes you there! This was a really amazing shrine.
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| Quick Selfie! |
The Shrine is a walk up a hill with lots of these red things:
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| It Was Still Raining |
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| Lots of Red Gates (AKA Torii) |
After spending some time walking through literally thousands of these gates we headed back into the city and then back to our couchsurfing home! Once we got back we changed into some dry clothes and then headed out for dinner with our host. He took us to a Japanese fast food place where you order the food through a vending machine and then pick it up at the counter! Pretty neat stuff! We then headed back to our bed for the night, tomorrow we take another long bus trip into the Japanese Alps to visit Takyama!
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