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A Week in Japan Part 2 - Kyoto 1

This is part two of my "A Week in Japan Series". The first part is about Osaka and can be found here.

By the time we arrived at the Kyoto Station it was already dark. Since we already have access to the internet, finding things are much, much easier. We quickly found our hotel, the New Hankyu  Kyoto, located right across from the Kyoto Station, and you can actually cross the street via an underground mall. I booked this hotel through their website and it was very easy. No advance payment, no down payment. Almost too easy!

Kyoto has a different atmosphere than Osaka, It seemed more quiet and things seemed to close early. The room we were in was quite large, as far as Japan hotels go, so we were happy there. The Kyoto Tower was nearby.

The next morning, we had breakfast at a cafe in the underground mall. Later on we found out that it is a chain cafe with very decent hot dogs and sandwiches. Then we were set to go on our day's adventures.

Our first stop was the Fushimi Inari Shrine. This extremely popular shrine is large, decorated with orange gates. Large ones at the entrance and then rows of smaller ones at the back, leading a path up the hill. The hubby and Kiki were very excited to go up the hill, following the gates, so up they went while I thought I was being smart to stay behind and save my energy for more adventures. Not smart. Adventure with two tired persons were not as much fun as it could've been. There are many fox statues around the shrine, as they were believed to be the messengers of the gods.
Front Gate of Fushimi Inari Taisha
People drinking and washing from the water of the shrine.
Building at the Fushimi Inari Taisha
Blocks at the Fushimi Inari Taisha
Fushimi Inari Taisha Area Map
The Main Bulding

 When we were done looking around, we stopped to have an early lunch there. One of the shops have food models outside so we went in and I pointed at one of the dishes. It turned out to be Oyako Don. Yummyyyyyy!
Lunch near the Fushimi Inari Taisha

At the Train Station
Our next stop was the Gion Area. It's a very neat area where you can still sometimes see Geishas and apprentices. There are many stores there selling traditional desserts as well as handicrafts. One thing that caught my attention was the Japanese scarf store. They sell japanese scarves with many different prints and sizes, and you can use it for Furoshiki, the art of tying scarves into bags and other things. The houses there were very old style but clean and well maintained. We walked around, stopped at the Gion Corner for a break. Unfortunately they didn't have any shows going on at that time. We also made several more stops at a shrine and a park. 


In Gion Area

Udon Museum Mascot

River in Gion


Shops in Gion

Sweets

Gion Area

Gion Area

Gion Area

Gion Corner
 
History of Maruyama Park
Willow Tree at Maruyama Park
Young couple visiting a shrine

Funny statue at a restaurant
From Gion area we walked across the river to Nishiki Market, a fresh food market. By the time we got there, the market was already closing so we didn't get to see much.
Chestnut
 

For dinner we went to a supposedly famous Katsu Restaurant in a building attached to the Kyoto Station. It was a fun experience for us, even though later we would find out that Katsu-Sei in Jakarta tastes better. This restaurant was on the 11th floor, and there is an option to take a strip of escalators to the ground floor, which was quite scary for me. So the hubby and Miss Kiki went down the escalators while chicken mama went back for an elevator ride.

Roasted Sesame Seed 

Kids Meal

Stairs and escalators at Kyoto Station

Kyoto Tower

Kyoto Kit Kat


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