We had a few minutes short walk in the rain from the ferry terminal in Miyajimaguchi to the railway station. We caught a local train that would bring us to Hiroshima Station.
Hiroshima Station was beneath a large shopping centre, just like the bus terminal.
On one of the upper floors (maybe it was the top?) was a food court with one of our best friends waiting for us. And no deer to steal the French fries from Ellie.
The view was pretty amazing for a food court.
I wasn’t previously aware but it makes sense given the lack of space – I guess they incinerate everything that can be disposed of that way. In Japan, most trash receptacles had 3 areas: liquids, non-burnables (glass bottles, etc – perhaps this stuff is recycled?), and burnables.
We’re going to ride our first Shinkansen to Kyoto this afternoon!
We had seat reservations in the Green car, which were spacious and reclined a lot. The ride was about 2 hours and it felt like about half of it was in tunnels.
On arrival in Kyoto, we expertly navigated our way to the JR Nara line and then the Keihan line to our hotel. All with just those nice small daypacks and no giant luggage.
Our hotel for the next two nights was a local joint in a very interesting neighborhood – Gion.
The room was definitely cozy. And look at that! There’s our luggage patiently waiting for us in the room. It worked, language barrier and all!
Interesting Wi-Fi access point – it was built into the power outlet panel.
Ellie discovered that the shelf above the bed by the window was a fun place to climb and be creepy.
We head over to one of the busy shopping areas. There were a lot of foreign tourists here. More than I’d seen on the entire trip. In Tokyo the amount of locals drastically overwhelms the amount of foreigners so you hardly notice them, and in Hiroshima and Miyajima it wasn’t apparent that there were many non-Japanese.
Intending to check out a bar in this tiny street packed with restaurants, Pontocho. But we ended up moving on to somewhere else as the intended destination was not kid friendly, which was actually pretty rare for Japan.
We were meeting up with a friend of mine, Glen, who’s lived in Kyoto for several years with his Japanese wife that he met while going to University here many years ago. For kid friendly and solid good food he suggested we go to Bikkuri Donkey. It hit the spot for sure!
After dinner we walked it off a little and then quickly retired for the night.
Next morning, I was treated to one of the best room coffees that I’ve ever had. A Hario hand coffee mill with whole beans and a pour over with carafe. A bit of work but it tasted delicious!!
Our hotel had a sister property a couple blocks away and we could choose to have breakfast at either location. We went to the other location today for the western breakfast offering. It was full of American tourists when we got there, so we got to sit Japanese style in the front window.
Our first destination after breakfast included a very nice walk from our hotel to the Keihan line station.
The actual destination was Fushimi Inari – a Shinto shrine, home of the “Thousand Torii”. I thought we were pretty early, but it was already very busy.
We walked up the hills through the numerous torii (no, we didn’t bow at each one). These torii are all sponsored by private donations, and more are constantly being added. The crowds thinned out a bit the higher we got.
Occasionally there would be a landing of sorts, and a small shrine would appear on one side or another.
I’m sorry for the pics that all look almost the same but it felt pretty rewarding when we’d hiked high enough to get away from the wall to wall people at the beginning and get some pics with no other people. I would definitely come here again on a nice day, hike all the way up the mountain, but would start at 7 am or earlier.
As we got back down towards the busier areas, we took the trail off to the side rather than the one under the torii.
Shortly we were back at the entrance plaza.
This, I believe, is the entrance torii protecting the shrine, but I could be wrong. We bowed at this one.
Back to the JR Nara line and it’s pretty busy now!
We arrive back at Kyoto station as we’re headed on a train to Osaka shortly.
The Kyoto Tower was right across the street.
We stopped at this bakery for tarts as recommended by Minh who’d been there 2 summers ago and really enjoyed it. It was pretty good.
After a very short (~15 minute) Shinkansen ride over to Shin-Osaka station, we went up to platform 20 to catch our next train to Himeji. There was a reason why we did it this way rather than taking a direct train to Himeji.
Hello Kitty Shinkansen!!!
We had waited in the line on the platform for car 2, which is an unreserved car, because that is the Kawaii car totally decked out in Hello Kitty stuff.
Ellie loved it.
I loved it!
We got some souvenirs in car 1, the souvenir car; they were quickly sold out of the good stuff. Then a photo with Conductor Hello Kitty.
It was a short (~40 minute) ride for us as we got off at Himeji. But it was so worth it to go out of the way to catch this particular train. I wasn’t sure until the day before whether or not we’d actually be able to fit it into our schedule. It worked out amazingly.
We left our shopping and Ellie’s backpack in a locker at the train station and walked out in the rain up the main street. This was the only really rainy day of our whole trip, and it did rain all afternoon.
We approached the moat of Himeji Castle at the head of the main street. Himeji Castle is one of the very few original castles of Japan that was not destroyed by fire, war, or earthquake.
Grabbed a drink at one of the omnipresent vending machines before heading in.
As we entered the paid area, I spotted a woman off to the side wearing a lanyard with badge that said “Free tours: I speak English”. So we had this lovely volunteer escort us around the castle and grounds for the next hour and half free of charge.
She took us to her favorite photo spots and it was hard to stop taking photos.
Pointing out intricacies that we might not otherwise have noticed, such as these plants growing up towards the corner of a wall. The plants were there so that intruders would slip on them and find it difficult to storm this particular area of the castle. Nature as a defence!
We went inside the main keep of the castle which was welcome since the rain was getting a little more persistent. It wasn’t cold out at all though.
We climbed up steep steps between each level and stopped for a few points of interest, such as the main support columns which support 100 tons of wood, clay, and plaster. It’s crazy that the entire main keep was dismantled by hand in the late 50’s, repaired and reassembled !
At the top level, the 6th, there was a small shrine in the middle. This floor was far smaller than the ground level, and it felt a bit crowded even though it wasn’t really that busy. I can imagine it would be claustrophobic – and very hot – here in summer.
The views, of course, were great.
We headed back down and Ellie spotted this maintenance worker on a railing working on one of the window frames. She really, really, wanted to climb up on that railing too.
There was an exhibit of guns and spears on the first level on weapon racks. As you can see, Ellie is taking a lot of photos and videos. Back in the room, she made a video about this outing!
I forgot to mention that no shoes are allowed inside the keep. Everyone had to take off their shoes at the entrance and carry them in plastic bags for the rest of the tour. Makes sense to keep the floor clean.
There was also a scale model of the elaborate wooden frame of the main keep.
There were still good views out the windows as we were quite elevated up here.
Some orange trees on the grounds.
Surrounded by the stone pillars is a deep well with a legend. Okiku’s Well, is the home of story about a court lady named Okiku who was tortured over the well and eventually dropped in, after being framed for stealing one of ten special dish plates. The story goes that she counts the plates 1 to 10 from the bottom of the well, to this day…. Ellie was VERY curious about this.
As we bid farewell to our guide, we stopped for just a few more photos in the garden since there were no people around.
We were pretty much famished by this point as it was 3 PM and we hadn’t eaten lunch. We saw this place on the main street… didn’t look open for a late lunch.
But a place a few doors away was open until 4. It was…. WOW! I had a sake tasting suggested by the server and an amazing seafood bowl.
Ellie’s kids meal came in a Himeji Castle model!!
The mural on the wall was so cool, too. Look at those happy kitties riding the fishie!
Back to the train station to collect our stuff from the locker and then just a minute to spare as we bought our tickets before boarding a non-Hello Kitty Shinkansen back to Kyoto. It was totally dark when we got back to Gion.
The room had been tidied up, and the Cinnamoroll slippers were at home on the Ellie bed.
I picked up what seemed to be a spicy version of Hickory Sticks. Great snack after another long day of walking.
Glen had suggested the night before that we go to his favorite Tonkatsu place, Katsukura. But when we got there they’d already done last call for the kitchen, so we made a note to try it again, earlier. We had to wait in line outside in the tiny alley for a bit, not too long though. They were super efficient and took our orders as we got near the front of the line so we wouldn’t have to wait that long for the food to be delivered.
This was a first for me – making our own tonkatsu sauce from scratch. It was fun and delicious!
It was really really good and I was happy to have gone back. Here’s a look at the entrance with no people.
Would barely notice it on the street in the shopping passage.
We walked back along the river, and quickly passed out in the room. Good night, Kyoto….
A last walk around Gion in the morning. This is the gate to Yasaka Shrine.
A typical street in this area.
This is the Sanmon gate to Yasaka Kōshin-dō Temple. After I took this pic, a South Asian couple had wedding photos taken in this spot.
My first exposure to Japan that I can remember was in Grade 7 where we spent a portion of the term learning about it. In the classroom during that period there was photo of a beautiful scene: Yasaka Pagoda of Hokan-ji Temple. I always wondered if I’d ever see it. And by chance, here it was, a 10 minute walk away from our hotel.
Gion was still nice and quiet at this early hour. Easy to see why it was a popular area.
Back at the hotel, we stayed at our property today for the Japanese breakfast. As you can see, Ellie is a little pensive about it. She tried most of the stuff but the only thing she finished was the salad. And she discreetly texted me during breakfast “Dad, I don’t really like any of this stuff”. Poor girl. She missed her yogurt and granola 😦
I liked it 😉
We walked over to Starbucks to supplement Ellie’s breakfast with a donut and … another vanilla Frappuccino. Passing an interesting place on the way. What more does one need than a bed and sake? We’re now back to pack up the room… and say Sayonara, Kyoto.
Ellie's Adventures 