Kyoto Wonderland
I’m at the tail end of two big very full days of sightseeing. I walked 15 miles yesterday and 10 miles (so far) today and am currently lying in my hotel room with my feet up against the wall. I get why people love Kyoto now. It’s a fabulous city, even when it’s packed with tourists.
Yesterday morning I tried to beet the crowds by getting to the Fushimi Inari Shrine by 8:30. No dice. I don’t know what time you’d have to be there to see less people. Maybe 6am when the sun is just coming up. In any case it was good to get an early start.
The higher you climb, the more the crowd started to thin out.
Similar to the shrine near my hotel in Tokyo, Fushimi Inari is a Shinto shrine. I loved all the fox statues around the shrine (Foxes are believed to be messengers for Inari) and even though it was crowded, it was a beautiful day and the walk up the mountain felt great.
On my way back down, I saw this cat whisperer:
After coming back to central Kyoto, I headed to the Nijo castle. The interior of the building displays reproductions of wall paintings from the Shogun period. No photos allowed inside.
The gardens, the view, and the castle moat were lovely too.
At this point the day was barely half over. It turns out an old friend, Andy, has been living in Kyoto with his wife since the pandemic. We met up at the Imperial Palace gardens, which are a gigantic park in the center of the city. My photos don’t do it any justice.
We walked along the banks of the Kamo river and through some neighborhoods that were quieting down as the sun set.
After a delicious bowl of ramen, I made my way back to the hotel. An amazing day. Kyoto part 2 will have to wait until tomorrow.