Last day in Kyoto, bittersweet

All good things come to an end, just like today and like this precious trip we call a honeymoon. We've had such a blast here and explored all Kyoto has to offer. We missed a few things on our list but all in all, it's been a success and we've learned so much more about Japan, Kyoto, the culture and each other as world travelers. We've had so much time to spend just the two of us without any of the responsibilities we have in our regular lives. It's been nice to walk in a different direction each day and see what kind of adventure unfolds and share it with each other.
We stopped by some favorite spots today, the torii gate shrine Fushimi-Inari-Taisha and did some shopping. We ate a good lunch at a vending machine restaurant (gotta love vending machines) and dinner at our first sushi place here, Musashi Sushi. It seemed like a nice way to bring the circle to a close. We're gonna miss the food, Kevin maybe a bit more than me (I guess I like Chinese food more?), but the sushi and all the little rice triangles we're definitely going to try to replicate at home. Good memories all around.

Our favorite things about this trip (in no particular order):

• vending machines. the restaurants, the soda machines, the ice cream machines etc etc
• the crosswalk beeps/chirps
• riding the subway, always a bit confusing but funny too
• the food!!! sushi sushi sushi, soba noodles, ice cream, green tea cake
• Lawsons, 7&iHoldings, Family Mart, Circle K, Sunkus... you've kept us going on our long walks with your sweet convenience store offerings
• FRESCO: grocery store heaven and open 24/7. They even have a slogan on the window "open on a fine day, sunny day, rainy day and windy day"
• cherry blossoms, plum blossoms, flowers in general
• the cleanliness of streets
• high-tech toilets
• Japanese girls and their fashion sense and the fact that they wear high heels to sight-see and climb mountains =D
• the stores with little silk cat and other cute animal stuff, we bought tons of it and could have bought more if the budget had permitted, lol
• the people, so respectful and friendly
• the skills people have on their bikes, they dodge pedestrians and cars all while holding umbrellas, playing nintendo DS or even holding onto another bike.
• the drivers. how they ever do it here is beyond me.
• the temples, shrines and views of Kyoto
• the fact that almost all the dogs we've seen have worn little t-shirts, I love that cute is accepted here and not just practical (ahem, Finland you could learn...)
• drinking a different beer every night, all good!
• spending time with each other, you only go on a honeymoon once in a lifetime <3 

Hopefully you've enjoyed reading our blog as much as I've enjoyed writing it and I'm sure when we get back home and to the grind, we'll enjoy looking back at what we thought was worth telling the world.

So thanks for reading and sayonara!!!


We're off to the airport for our long trip back in 5 hours! Wowweee!

-Anneli and Kevin (sleeping again)...

Arashiyama's monkeys and views = well worth the trip out there

So as you can probably guess from the title, yesterday (Saturday) we went to Arashiyama, the eastern part of town. We took a cute trolley train out there that took about 15-20 min. There isn't much to see on the ride but as you get closer to the mountains the anticipation builds. I loooove the mountains here. They're not too big but big enough that you can see them from any part of town (Kyoto is in a valley). You can also see to the top of them too and they are just covered in forest, like a Bob Ross painting of "happy trees".
It rained a bit of sleet in the morning so we were kind of slow to leave in the morning, what's the point of going out in that? But the sun came out in a bit and all was well.
So yes, the train. We got to Arashiyama's little train station and were welcomed by a busy little street of vendors and shops obviously geared towards tourists. I LOVE the little shops. They are pretty pricey, but all of the cat things they have here is enough to make me a little crazy and the silk stuff... there are just so many CUTE things! However, shopping was not on the agenda for the day so on we went to Togetsu-kyo bridge. There is a rite of passage on this bridge every April where 13 year olds have to cross it and not look back at their parents or it's bad luck for life. We giggled that it was a pretty rough punishment for looking back, but hey, Finland and the US have some pretty stupid traditions too if you think for a while.

So on we went over the bridge and I dared to look back, after all I'm not a Japanese 13 year old. There was a sakura tree just over the bridge.

The we crossed another little bridge with lovely views, or well we got a good picture or two...

Then we saw the monkey sign. So we knew the monkey park was where the arrow pointed.

The park starts with a shrine complete with torii gates. Then you pay your entrance (at a vending machine, they really love them here) and the lady gives you a map and you head up the mountain. The climb was awful, lots of stairs but it was woodsy and pretty. Then bam! There they were! MONKEYS! There are caution things everywhere to not look them in the eye, pet them..or pick them up. (Lol because we were really gonna try the latter two). But as I was taking a picture, I kind of looked one  in the eye and it got up and walked towards me, kind of intimidating!! I turned my back though and looked at the sky and he let me pass. So up we went and saw more lovely monkeys and just out of the blue, it starts snowing! And really coming down too! But just like it started it stopped and for a few minutes, it snowed while the sun was shining. The weather here is really crazy!! Made for some interesting pictures though! :D

THE LONG WALK UP

THE FIRST MONKEYS WE SAW, I THINK THE ONE I PISSED OFF WAS ON THE LEFT...

SUDDENLY SNOWING

FAMILY CUDDLING IN THE TREE

...TRY NOT TO BE TOO EXCITED...

We made it up to the viewing point and where you can buy food to feed the monkeys. The view was spectacular but so was the atmosphere. Lots of Japanese people taking pictures of the monkeys with SUPER NICE cameras. Well, maybe their cameras were of equal standing as ours, but their lenses! They were all like professional photographers or something. Hahaha. And they were all taking pictures of the monkeys running around. There is a little building with no windows, just fence and you go in there and buy food and feed the monkeys through the fence (it's safer). I liked that the people were in the cage, not the monkeys. We fed them dried fruit, banana and peanuts. They took it very nicely from your hand but all were there waiting with their hand poking in, hoping for someone to see. Very funny. And they got into little tiffs with each other about whose area it was. The big monkeys just ate where they were but if you fed a baby (YES, they had BABY MONKEYS AAAAH!!!) it snatched it and ran so no one could steal it from them! It was a really cool experience, one of my highlights of the trip for sure. Kevin loved it too!

I LOVE THIS ONE, IT'S LIKE HE'S LOST IN THOUGHT ENJOYING THE VIEWS

(I'M SURE ABOUT 5 OTHER PEOPLE HAVE ABOUT THE SAME PICTURE AS THIS)

GIMME GIMME GIMME

AWW THANKS

THE HAND THAT PATIENTLY WAITS

THEY'RE FED 3 TIMES A DAY (OTHER THAN THE HAND ME OUT TREATS AT THE "CAGE" AND THEY FIND THEIR OWN FOOD AS WELL ON THE MOUNTAIN. BUT THEY ALL GANGED UP AND FOLLOWED THE LADY WITH THE FOOD BUCKET WHEN SHE WAS PASSING OUT LUNCH ;D

We met a couple of swedes that were about our age up at the view point. We had a nice chat with them about our experiences in Japan. They had had a rail pass and traveled through more places but because of the disaster a few weeks ago, they had to change some plans and cut their Tokyo stay short. They loved it here too and it was nice to speak in English, Kevin enjoyed it especially. (Nej, jag inte talade svenska med dem. And that is why, terrible svenska skills lol).

After the monkey park, we went to eat and stopped at a place that had silk food in the window. They are super cute and we've wanted to buy them in the little shops but really, what are we gonna do with mini silk sushi? The view was great, the food was too and it was the first place that didn't have an english menu. We just pointed at the picture of what we wanted and hoped for the best. Kevin got a tofu dish where the tofu comes boiling in a bowl and then you have additional little plates with soy and spring onions as well as ginger. You mix them to your liking into the soy and then you take a piece of tofu and stick it in the soy and eat it. Sounds complicated but it's really not. I had a tempura dish of vegetables and meats on top of a salad.

With our bellies full and warmed by the green tea, we went in search of the bamboo forest. We walked through Kameyama park and eventually ran into it. Kind of by accident. Lol! The bamboo forest was amazingly beautiful. Another recommended must-see. Lots of tourists though.

After the forest, we decided to leave Arashiyama as we weren' really interested all that much in the temples there. Templed out a bit, you see. So we took the train back and went to Nishiki Market to eat. We found a place that had an English menu and the service was great, the young folk in there spoke really really good English. Kevin ordered pork with soba noodles, I got Chinese fried noodles. DELICIOUS! We had beer and plum liquor (delish too) and as an appetizer edamame. We asked them if they knew any good manga shops on the near by shopping strip Teramachi and they recommended a few. So on we went to find a good poster. However, the stores only sold manga in book form and had a few risque sections. I'll just leave it at that. And, I was pretty much the only girl in a lot of the places. Lol.

CUTESTS COOKIE EVER, PICKED IT UP ON THE WAY BACK TO KYOTO

We came back to the hotel after that an ooh-ed and aww-ed at our monkey pictures. I really loved that place. Once in a lifetime experience!

Thanks for reading!

-Anneli (and Kevin)

markets, temples and castles - another day in Kyoto

We wished we had a pedometer today (we've wished we've had one before as well), but today would have been interesting to see just how much we walked. According a quick calculation of mine (therefore completely unreliable, lol) with google maps, we walked about 8 miles today. Whoa! Let me tell you, we feel it.
We started off around 9:30 again and walk to Northwest Kyoto, to the Kitano Tenmangu shrine, where the Tenjin-san market was being held. We really really liked Monday's Kobo-san market and were hoping for something similar...and it was! It was smaller scale, the area wasn't quite as big, but the variety of stalls was great and the food stands as well. We even met and older couple from Coral Gables who every time they passed us, saw us eating and stopped to ask what we were dining on and if it was good. Hahaha. We ate octopus balls or as we've learned the name now, takoyaki. I shouldn't say "we", Kevin ate them. I had a bite and it just wasn't my cup of tea. They make them in these large griddles with a bunch of half circles. They start by putting a kind of pancake batter on the hot griddle, then they put a vegetable mix (cabbage, carrots and something else) and then they drop chunks of octopus in the middle. Then they flip them all with little wooden skewers and add a bit more batter. They don't cook them all the way through (why I didn't like it), it's soft and batter-y in the middle. Then they top it with dried fish flakes (not fish food flakes), nori and mayonnaise. It makes for a pretty dish. We also ate deep fried pork on a stick and deep fried chicken on a stick. I also had a chocolate covered banana, a food I always find awkward to eat in public, lol.

The shrine itself was busy, there were some trees blossoming so we had fun taking about 1000 pictures.

Our next destination was the Golden Pavilion, Kinkaku-ji. It was designed to be a "comfortable villa" according to the brochure for a retired shogun in 1397. It was later turned into a Buddhist temple. In 1950 a crazed young monk burned it down and it was reconstructed in 1955, they added a bit more gold to the reconstructed version though (the bottom floors). It was unbelievably GOOOOOOOOOOOOLD. Pretty and nice to have visited such a landmark. Apparently it only rivals Mt Fuji as one of the most known sights of Japan. Touche Kinkaku-ji! The pond around it was pretty as well, it was called the mirror pond and the reason is pretty obivious... We even had our fortunes told! ;)

After the Kinkaju-ji, we started walking towards Ninna-ji Temple. The walk was long and pretty boring. Once we got there, the temple itself was a bit boring and it was doing that odd drizzling thing again (the weather here really is so unpredictable!). We didn't stay long, we (I at least) are starting to get a bit templed out. They are all starting to look the same to me. : /

From Ninna-ji we decided to walk through Myoshin-ji temple, Torin-in temple and Taizo-in Temple since they are all in the same area. Literally all next to each other in a vast park. Sadly (and a little happily?) they had all just closed so we only meandered through the general walkways around the temples and through the park. It was a pretty area, but kind of like a maze. We reached a dead-end at one point and had to back track and find a new way out. Kevin stopped at one of the hole in the ground public restrooms and said it was a nice one, lol. So if you are ever in the area and need to pee in a porcelain hole, he recommends that one.

My Japanese counterpart lives here, these pots are all pansies!

On the way back to the hotel we walked along Marutamachi-dori (street) and stopped at a Lawson's for a snack (ok, ice cream...). We also stopped by a pet store because as anyone who knows me can imagine, there is no holding me back when there is a gate with puppies behind it playing. So in we went to see all the puppies and kittens. AWWWWWWWW.... I could have taken them all home. I must say though, I hate pet stores where they keep the puppies and kittens in little windowed boxes, but this place had a lot of staff, relatively few pets and while we were there, they were fussing over one or another of the puppies so it wasn't as bad as some of the places I've seen in Florida *cough cough, Petland* The prices were astronomical, dogs and cats were over 120000 yen so take off 2 zeros and that is about the price in euros or dollars. They also had guinea pigs, ferrets and bunny rabbits (also really really cute) and some birds. No rats and no hamsters and no fish or reptiles. They only sell cute animals lol. I so wanted to buy Manta and Kissa cute outfits but Kevin said no. Hmph.
We eventually made it back to the hotel for a quick break but we were off again within 30 min to Noji castle by our hotel. Tonight was the opening night for night viewings of the grounds. They light them up to display the castle and the grounds, a lot of which were and would have been...sakura. Only a couple trees were open though. Bummer! The place would have been a lot nicer if they had been. It was still pretty though. The night was really cold though so we didn't linger too long.

THIS WAS A STAGE DECORATION, THERE WERE INSTRUMENTS SET UP SO I DON'T KNOW IF THEY HAD ALREADY FINISHED PLAYING. BUT THEY HAD A NICE BACKDROP...!

So off we went to find dinner. We considered a restaurant but what I really wanted was large salad (something light, all we've eaten is Japanese junk food or heavy meals) and Kevin wanted sushi. So we went to Fresco, grocery heaven. They had really great sushi there that we picked up and Kevin got instant noodles.And I got my salad.

ON THE LEFT IS EITHER TUNA OR SARDINE MAYO AND CUCUMBER FILLING, THE RIGHT HAS SHRIMP. BETTER THAN PUBLIX!

The night was pretty late by the time we ate etc so once I finish the next few sentences, it's off to bed for me. Kevin is already sleeping, he has such a knack for it when we start writing this blog. ;)

But thanks for reading my rambling. Tomorrow is Arashiyama and the bamboo forest and monkey park!!! Woooooohoooooo, animals!!!!

-Anneli (and Kevin, the sleeping beauty)