Day 6 - kyoto!

We woke up early on Tuesday morning to start our adventures around Kyoto. Throughout the day, we visited several beautiful temples, shrines, and landmarks, and I also finally put my Nikon camera to good use. I’ll let my best photos tell most of the story for today, but I’ll also add that I was especially grateful for Yasu today. Despite Kyoto being one of the most “touristy” cities in the country, the availability of English explanations of the landmarks was very limited. So, Yasu provided as much information as he could. Granted, some of that info went a little like, “this was built for some really famous people,” but ya know, it was a whole lot better for me than a bunch of Japanese text. It was on this excursion in Kyoto that I realized the true need for people to use travel books while touring countries where they do not speak the language at all.

First stop: Kiyomizu Temple, where I was most struck by the vibrant colors and geometric patterns. So much beauty here!

Our next stop was to Ryozen Kannon, a war memorial, and shrine to love and relationships <3

aaaaaand, we got photobombed.

After leaving our sites in Higashiyama, we decided to hire a rickshaw for a 45-minute tour of other parts of Kyoto. Again, Yasu had to translate for me, but we had a great time. Our rickshaw runner seriously impressed me with his ability to move the rickshaw—he was literally running and pulling Yasu and me on the cart. The guy has some muscles! Part of the tour involved him taking us to some of the most beautiful and well known sites in Kyoto so that he could take our picture just right—the guy sure knew how to use an iPhone, as the pictures even came with filters added! On the tour of the city, the driver also took us to the Gion district where we saw the geisha’s homes called okiya as well as the school where girls learn the geisha trade. We definitely found our tour to be quite enjoyable, and it gave our legs a nice rest while showing us around the other parts of Kyoto that we had wanted to see.

Us with our rickshaw and driver!

At Shirakawa, by the geisha teahouses

our view

By the Tower of Yasaka, at the left of the photo

After the tour, we hit up Starbucks for a bit of a warm up, as the wind had really picked up during our rickshaw ride. I got to try a Sakura Cherry Blossom steamer, which I’d say is about the equivalent to a pumpkin spice latte—it’s a seasonal drink, only available around sakura, or cherry blossom, season. Holy cow, it was sweet, but it was also quite delicious, and despite its lack of caffeine, I’m glad I gave it a shot!

We spent a couple more hours walking around Kyoto’s shopping district before heading back to the hotel for a while. After watching a movie that we’d downloaded on Yasu’s laptop (iTunes movie rentals are GREAT for traveling when there’s no wifi), we decided we really didn’t want to go back out that night. So, yasu walked a couple blocks to the nearest McDonalds for our deliciously nutritious dinner. Aside from my coke and fries, I had a teriyaki burger that was oh so delicious, while yasu enjoyed a shrimp burger. We’d be lying if we said that hitting up McDonalds was not on our must-do list for this trip!

All I really ever wanted....kind of :)

After so much touring, travel, and family time, I think we were both pretty exhausted, so spending a night in with a movie and some comfort food really was the perfect way for us to spend our night! Oh, and the teriyaki burger did NOT disappoint.