Kyoto

 The JR train from Osaka to Kyoto is only 45 minutes and before we knew it we arrived in the tranquil city of Kyoto. A short cab ride later and we arrived at our boutique hotel, Genji Kyoto located right on the Kamo River. This boutique hotel blends tradition with contemporary design with a zen garden, roof top Japanese garden, and each of the 19 rooms being differently designed with local artists' works, custom designed furniture and spa-like bathrooms. The roof top garden was a perfect place for breakfast and gives you a scenic view of the river and an opportunity for bird watching. The hospitality of the staff was top notch service while respecting the privacy of guests and the serenity atmosphere the hotel prides itself with. We stayed in a deluxe garden room with a partially traditional Japanese bed (it wasn't entirely on the floor but on a platform not too high off the ground), and the bathroom had a wooden bathtub which are thought to promote wellness and stress relief. 

On our first day in Kyoto, we decided it was best to just get out exploring the city on foot. We ended up at the Nishiki market, which I can honestly say is a market like I've never experienced before. The Nishiki market is a big part of Kyoto's food culture and there is no shortage of food vendors lined up and down the market selling everything from different fruit to all things pickled, to crab legs, prawn, and gyoza to ceramic cookware and lots of chopsticks. At the eastern end of the market is the quaint Nishiki Tenmangu Shrine whose entrance is adorned with many lanterns and provides a place of peacefulness and serenity from all the busyness of the market nearby. 

We found ourselves in Gion District, known as the geisha district, a traditional area which is famous for its historic wooden houses, cobblestone streets, upscale restaurants and tea houses. A lot of tourists head here and wait for a glimpse of a geisha dressed in their iconic kimonos, hairstyles and white makeup. We did manage to spot one as she hurriedly made her way through the streets to wherever her evening would take her. Nearby this district is the Yasaka Shrine which was founded over 1350 years ago. 

Given our short stay in Kyoto we decided to maximize our site seeing that we'd take a bus tour that would take us to several of the really popular tourist sites; Tenryū-ji Temple, the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest and the Arashiyama Monkey Park, Nara Park, and . We originally planned to visit the temple and its grounds which led to the bamboo forest. The Tenryū-ji Temple, established in 1339, is a world cultural heritage site and is also known as the Temple of the Heavenly Dragon. The grounds have stunning gardens with pond just off the main hall. From the north gate of the temple grounds you can access the bamboo forest. The bamboo forest pathway was packed with tourists at the time we arrived and so we decided only to walk a small part of it before doubling back to grab some lunch which our guide told us all to make sure we did as the next stop would still be over an hours drive from this one. We found some really tasty street food and realized that we still had some time before we needed to get on the bus. So we decided to book it to the  the monkey park. While there was a long line up at the entrance, it did move rather quickly. After a hurried160m elevation gain, we made it to the top of the park to all the monkeys roaming freely and enjoy an pretty incredible view of the valley below. From here our next stop was just over an hour drive to Nara Park. This park covers about 660 hectares and

it is renowned for its free roaming deer and the Todaiji Temple. One of the attractions to this park is being able to hand feed the deer, but watch out if the deer realize you have food, you will be surrounded and sometimes they can get aggressive. From here we drove to our final stop for the day, Fushimi Inari-taisha, an important Shinto shrine in Kyoto. What this shrine is famous for is the thousands of torii gates, most red in colour, which straddle the trails behind the buildings which lead to the sacred Mount Inari. Also unique to this shrine is the many fox statues each with a unique face. This tour was a full day, but really gave us an opportunity to see so much of Kyoto's main sites and its prefectures for our short time there. 

Our final day on this whirlwind trip to Japan found us starting out with a lovely outdoor breakfast on our hotel's rooftop. We had about half the day before we'd need to take the train to the airport for our long flight home. With that in mind, we decided to stroll along the river before finding ourselves back at Nishki market. At this time we were ready for another coffee, and on our last trip to Japan we learned all about their vending machines, but this time we had a tip that 7-11 sells hot coffee in glass drinking containers (similar to what one would think a juice container would come in) and that this coffee was good. So we had to try this of course...the verdict... the coffee was actually quite good and was hot... but we didn't pay close enough attention and ended up buying a sweeten one and neither of us like sugar in our coffee. So we ended up trying again at the train station and yes, the coffee was good. 

What an incredible adventure for us to be able to spend a week in Japan, seeing the best of Osaka and Kyoto and immersing ourselves in the culture and food scene. The Japanese people are so hospitable, friendly, and helpful making our time here super fun and special. Perhaps another time will bring us during cherry blossom season. 

To travel is to live.... until next time. Life is good!