Japan Trip 2016, Day 6: Kyoto

What is the loudest snoring you've ever heard? I know in the Fromhold family, there's some really loud snoring going on. The guy in the room next to us could definitely match any Fromhold in a contest of sawing logs. That's how I came to be awake, and stay awake, at 5 a.m. this morning in our Kyoto hostel. My earplugs were able to drown out the weird plumbing noises, but definitely not this guy's snoring. Uuuughhhhh.

And a good night's sleep would have been nice for the day we had ahead of us, since climbing up the side of a mountain was on the itinerary. Last time we were in Japan we visited Fushimi Inari Shrine here in Kyoto, and it was beautiful, but we had to turn back halfway due to me wheezing.  These past four years have honestly been dedicated to making sure we were in better shape for this trip. My workout mantra has been "2016! 2016!" to motivate myself to make sure I was not THAT American. Plus I needed to get healthier anyway and Japan was my motivation. So, despite getting less sleep than usual (and I LOVE my sleep, so anything less than 8 hours is a travesty to me) WE MADE IT UP THE MOUNTAIN! Yaaaayyy! I say mountain like we climbed Mount Fuji or something. Please don't think it's anything as big as that. Mount Inari is 999 feet tall and the entire hike up and back down the mountain is 4.8 miles. But it's all stairs. All torii gates. All the time! Our little legs were working double time this morning.  I was expecting a view from the top, but that came and went about halfway up the trail.  At the top is another part of the shrine with an altar, but nothing too special. It was a little anti-climactic. BUT, it was fun seeing all the little shrines on the way back down as we took the easier, slower route down. Go us!

Our next stop on the agenda was Kiyomizu-dera, but on the way we decided to stop at a gyoza restaurant I had visited with my college the first two times I went to Japan.  They didn't have the extensive menu I remember, as I remember them being exclusively gyoza, but this time the menu was more Chinese-like foods and the gyoza was either pork or beef/pork.  They were fried up pretty well and tasty enough, but I suppose I was remembering them to be better.  The gyoza did their job fueling us for the hike up the street to Kiyomizu-dera.  We wandered about, having seen it before, and I was able to get their goshuin stamp there.  In all four times I've been there, I still have never drank from the waterfall for luck as there's always a long line I don't want to wait in.  It's okay, I was happy to see the temple again (there was renovations STILL going on), buy my little mochi-rabbit artwork, and even buy a green tea cake which I had last time and REALLY loved. We stopped for ice cream on our way back.  I got matcha and Jeff got sweet potato. His won, and I swear it had an orange-y taste, but it was still the better of the two.

And if our feet hadn't had enough walking yet, we were going to run them ragged with just a bit more as we walked down Nishiki market while the shops were still open. I bought a Yotsuba &! comic to practice my kanji with and Jeff bought an extra jacket from UNIQLO since it was getting chillier when the sun went down. Which it does around 5:30 here which is way too early! We had dinner-indecisiveness but we finally picked an okinomiyaki place. I had to usual kind, but Jeff tried an "Italian" style with cheese, sweet sauce, and corn.  It was good, but I like my traditional one better. And not to toot my own horn, or anything, I think the okonomiyaki I make at home was just as good as this place's! Still, it was delicious and a much needed dinner.

Now I sit here in the hostel common room as our laundry swishes clean in the machines in the other room.  Drying clothes takes a LONG time here with the low energy output of the dryers.  So I'm settling in here, writing this blog post, listening to the Germans plan their itinerary for their trip to Osaka and Hiroshima tomorrow, and I'm planning to enjoy some of that matcha cake. I might share....

So it begins, our torii-lined pathway up Mount Inari.

I wanted a pretty picture to make a profile pic, too! Didn't turn out as good as Jeff's. :(

Since this was a fox shrine you will see a lot of these little guys all over the place!

This was a big one, and he's spitting water! Kinda looks a bit like a rat, though...

A map of the route we took up Mount Inari.

And we ended our night with delicious okinomiyaki!

Sorry for the lack of pictures of Kiyomizu-dera. I had taken many last trip and I liked them well enough. No changes anyway.

Update: I did share the cake and now Jeff and I have made friends with 3 Germans visiting Japan for their first time. Conversation included our mess of an election, Halloween, and how fairy tales and myths from different cultures are absolutely terrifying. Behold the power of cake!