Kyoto Trip Day 2

Fushimi Inari Shrine
After breakfast we headed out to the Fushimi Inari Shrine. This shrine is famous for the many torii gates lined up next to each other. I went with the group who had the breakfast buffet at the hostel so we went there later than the others. While the others took the train there we decided to walk since we had already been around that area before plus it would save us a few yen. The walk was a bit long. At one point we got lost. We ended up in a small town area with houses next to each other and there being a really tiny road. We finally were able to find our way out of that place and found ourselves onto a much busier and bigger street. We were about to go to a 7 11 to ask where the shrine was when two old ladies saw us and asked if we were looking for the Inari Shrine. We said yes and they pointed us to the right direction. On the way we stopped by a green tea shop. Some of us bought green tea ice cream and a few other things. The lady there was really nice and even told us they she went to the US once. After the ice cream shop we walked a few more yards until we reached the shrine.


When we got there we passed many souvenir and food shops/stalls on the way to the main shrine. When we finally reached the entrance we first did the water ritual thing (it's a way of cleansing before entering a temple or shrine) and after a few picture taking made our way in. There were many small shrines that were painted a reddish/orange color.There was another souvenir place which also had fortunes and other things. We looked around just for a little bit before heading to the main part of the shrine. We reached where the gates lined up next to each other. It was pretty awesome. Each one had writings on them. I wasn't sure what they were. I knew that many of the writings on there were fairly new and haven't been there for centuries. There's a reason, but I'm too lazy to look it up right now XP I'm sure you can just google it :P

Our group ended up splitting in half. Me and one other EAPer trailed off course for a bit. We followed a trail hoping it'd take us somewhere interesting. We ended up at a place that had stone panels that looked like tombstones. It was a bit creepy because no one else was there... We eventually headed back on the main trail and made our way up the trail. On the way we saw a cat chilling on one of the mini shrine things. We petted it for a little bit before we reached the top. There was a big lake that was really nice. I really love the lakes in Japan especially the ones at the temples, shrines, and castles. Anyway, we made our way back down to meet up with the rest of the group. We spent a bit of time at the souvenir shops where we bought our omiyages and stuff. After our little shopping we decided to take the train back to our hostel.

Random Walking and Eating at a Vegeterian Restaurant
After resting for a little bit at the hostel our group decided to go check out Nijo Castle. So, we walked to Kyoto Station to take the JR train line there. When we reached there we found out that Nijo Castle closed at a certain time and as it turns out it was closed by the time we got off the train. Big disappointment... So, instead we decided to go check out the Manga Museum. We walked for a long while trying to find the Museum. On the way we discovered a small shrine area that had a really big lake. It was beautiful. Places like this you can't really find if you stick with tourist maps. Sometimes walking around aimlessly will lead you to places like this :)

After awhile we finally found the Manga Museum though it was a letdown because the admission fee was ８００円. That's more than $10. I'd rather just go to Book Off where people read manga there and you can buy cheap ones for way less. We did walk into the shop that had a lot of anime merchandise. I wanted to buy a lot of stuff in there >.< but I kept myself from doing so for the sake of saving money :P Plus I'm sure I'll have another chance to buy anime stuff.

After the Museum we decided to go find a Vegetarian Restaurant. One of us is a Vegetarian and she looked at a map of Vegetarian restaurants in Kyoto and she wanted to check out one of them. We walked for a long time again. And I mean long. I was getting a little impatient, but I sucked it up and kept on walking. We finally found the restaurant and the prices turned out to be really expensive. I somehow agreed to eat there. I ordered a green curry not knowing that it would be spicy >< It turned out to be the spiciest thing I've ever eaten in Japan. It was still pretty good, though. After dinner we headed back to the hostel.

That's the end of day 2