So, for the day's start we each rented a bike from the hostel to ride around for the day. I had planned on biking today because we'd be slightly more on the outskirts of the city. That said, I thought it'd be less crowded and easier. That was false. Things all seemed more crowded because all the roads and sidewalks were narrower! Lame! Also, the city center is designed on a grid... but the further to the outskirts you get the less order the streets have. That made navigation sort of a pain and I stopped a lot to check the map.
So, around noon thirty we puller up to our first and I think best site of the day. In the southeast corner of kyoto lies Fushimiinari-taisya Shrine on Mt. Inariyama... yes... I just read those off my map... Anyway, this is a pretty famous Shinto (I believe) shrine and anyone who has seen Memoirs of a Geisha has seen this site. There is a seen with a girl running through thousand of closely placed red/orange arches. So many and so close together that it appears similar to a solid tunnel. That is this place. It full, it is a trail of these arches, with no more than a foot or so between each that loops to the top of the mountain and back. I believe the path exceeds one and a half million arches. It was really stunning, and in many ways felt unreal.
We hiked our was from the bottom for about 45 minutes. I've no idea how far we made it, but every now and then the steps cut into the trail would open into forks. There the path continued or there were shorter paths to small alters or temples, shrines or lookouts. Our hike took us to a very large shrine, and if you walk through it you find yourself on a steep ledge with a tremendous view of the entire city of Kyoto. Again... stunning. Through the path though, and frequently all over the shrines and between the forks in the path there stood statues of foxes in red ribbons. I don't know their symbolic relevance... but they were also beautiful, though in a bit of an eerie manner.
After the shrine we headed out on bike again. We stopped at a supermarket to pick up 2 box lunches of rice and tempura. We then went to the parking area of what I believe to be Tofukuji Temple. We stayed in the parking lot mostly, and really just used it as a relaxing place to sit, eat, and enjoy some good scenery.
After lunch we continued to our second big site of the day; Kiyomizudera Temple. This is apparently another tourist hotshot and it too was pretty magnificent. It stood at the base of a mountain, yet at the top of a hill. We parked our bikes and climbed the long road uphill to the base of the temple... which was a lot of stairs. So, we climbed the stairs to the temple. Again, we had a great view over all of Kyoto. The buildings were colorful, with teals and reds and oranges, including a 3 story pagoda (my favorite), a 2 story arch, a bell house and another building that I don't recall. And this was just the entrance.
The temple is actually build out from the side of the mountain, and much of it is supported from beneath by massive scaffold structures (though all wood and ornate looking). The path wound behind these opening buildings to reveal close to a dozen other buildings of prayer that hugged the mountainside. There were fountains and incense and statues and view... all to be had. It was also cool to get views of the building's scaffolds as we walked around.
After this we headed back to the hostel where we split up for the evening. Yesterday I'd gotten in touch with Emmy and through her a friend named Nozomi who is living in Osaka. So, around 5 (which it was now) I hopped on a 30 minute train to Osaka. There I went to the central entrance where we exchanged a few emails, and then I tried to be tall and look lost until she found me... which she did. So we had introductions and then just headed out the station and just sorta walked aimlessly while chatting.
And that eventually brought us to a restaurant, which is apparently fairly standard Osaka style, though the name did escape me. We sat down and I confessed to know nothing on the menu and so Nozomi did all the ordering. We split a few things and I finally got to try sake cold. I did enjoy it, but I think I'd still lean towards hot sake.
Anyway, the food was all things I'd never had and they were all delicious. We split 3 dishes, which were put on a hot plate build into the center of the table to keep warm. In no particular order... we had Takoyaki, which is a type of ricecake with cooked octopus stuffed inside. There were 5 of 6 of these balls with some extra octopus in the middle. The whole thing was sort of drizzled with some cheese, which is apparently not quite normal. Anyway, it was really good. Then we had Okonomiyaki, which is a type of pancake that is stuffed with delicious! The pancake itself is not sweet, but its coated in some kind cheesy/sweet topping (that's I think a bad description of it). Then, it is filled with noodles and cabbage and meat and rice and egg. It was sorta like an owlet, but a dinner owlet and japanese and more awesome. The last dish was Kyoten-yaki. It is similar to the pancake I just described but with different toppings. In this case a sort of salad and dressing. The inside was also more seafood/shrimp based. I think my favorite for the night was the Okonomiyaki.
We also talked about all sorts of things, ranging from language, to manga (she also reads One Piece!), to sports and schools... a lot of things. It was just all around a blast. After dinner we walked around a bit more. Apparently Monday is when all the comics are released in Japan so she took me to where the Jump (as its called) is sold. It was a bit crazy and fun to see. We also walked around to see a large red ferris wheel, apparently a symbol of Osaka. While I didn't go on it I can imagine it giving some pretty great views.
After that she helped me find the train I needed to head back to Kyoto. Then... I headed back to kyoto. And thus I arrive at now...
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