So where was I?

*Sorry but you'll have to scroll back and forth to assign pictures to words. I'll do better next time *

Kyoto!

Kyoto was a lot of fun. I went to see the big Jinja (shrine) and Otera (temples) of the town. Kyoto is one of the most historically packed towns in Japan. You can't see all of the temples or shrines here in one or two days. And besides thoses there are a lot of other attractions like local foods and shops that you would like to go to.
On our first night we went to Kiyomizu-dera. It's a really cool because there's a huge temple basically on top of a bunch of, I wouldn't call them stilts， but it's supported by wood only. And at night they light it up! Sadly, I was there before they lit it but I've seen pictures and I was quite nice.
This was a three day trip Ｓｏ we went to many places big to the area, including: Kinkakuji, Ginkakuji, the Kyoto palace, and so on. I really enjoyed Kinkakuji because it was as the name suggests, actually golden! It was in the middle of a nice pond filled with giant koi and I enjoyed circling it.
One other place we went to was Fushimi Inara Jinja. Now, this isn't your regular Jinja. It has the most toori (you know those orange/stone/wooden gates that everyone knows is from Japan, that's a toori)in a shrine, and oh, btw (by the way) it's a mountain. I didn't say on top of a mountain. I said it's a mountain! From the moment you start climbing you're going through toori. Small to medium to large. A lot of them were orange with dates/names inscribed on them. (We figure those are who sponsored them.) One thing about this place is that it is a breaker of wills. Just when you think you've climbed quite a mountain and you're at the top. You reach another part of the shrine. But it's nice enough to have shops where you can have ice cream and food shops all over. There was even a little waterfall. I really appreciated seeing other tourists who weren't only foreigners taking a rest on the little flats in between the innumerable steps. Oh so many steps (flashback).

But I was proud of myself after I left. My glutes had be thoroughly worked out (my butt hurt!) and I was ready to get on that bus back to Ginza (lay down and die, jk). But I was so happy when the steps finally kept going down, instead of teasing me with a kaidan (stairs) that went down followed by one going up.
Oh ya, we stayed in Ginza! You know that place with all the Geisha? Nowadays you don't use that word. It's either Maiko (apprentice geisha) or geiko (full-fledged geisha). We did go Geisha siting, but we didn't find one.

Next trip!

After a days "rest" back at Nagoya, I went on another trip to Hiroshima, Miyajima, and Himeji, but I've already told you about that.
In Hiroshima, we went to the Hiroshima Dome, which was quite an experience.
In Miyajima, we went to the floating toori, which you all know from any tour guide/CM (commercial) for Japan. When the tide gets low you can go out there and stand under it. My friend Ryan threw a coin on top (as per the custom)to get a wish. I didn't know about this and just walked around it :(.
There were deer all over that place. I dislike deer personally, but here the deer are rude and will gang up on you if you have food! But everyone goes over and pets them. But those deer are creepers. They totally came after this ojiisan (old man). I think he learned his lesson about peanuts around those suspicious animals!
My friends and I ended up going yukata (summer kimono) shopping! I bought a blue one! Along with a fan and geta! (which i found out were wrong, but w/e). Watashi ni niau 私に似合う。 I suits me. I'm told. But hopefully, my hips will get a little smaller so it doesn't look like a sexy yukata, which it sometimes ends up doing. We all looked pretty at our traditional Japanese dinner at the ryokan (Japanese Inn). It was a lot of fun!!
We ventured up a mountain in Miyajima, in search of monkeys! Which we did not find! I'm still disappointed about that. There was a great sign warning you about the monks, but aside from the cute depictions, I saw none. Sadness, I heard all the monkeys were relocated, but I have a friend who went there recently and saw some, so I guess not :'(. This mountain, we decided not to climb the whole way and we took the ropeway and then climbed up the rest of the way! It started off as a cloudy day, but it cleared up and the view from the top was great! We were on an Island so we could see in 4 different directions from the top! Simply Breathtaking! (included pictures: view from ropeway and top).

Lastly was Himeji Castle. Very famous Castle in Japan. Very cool. But I think I'm getting used to walking through castles. That must sound bad.
On the way back from Himeji, I did meet a maiko I took a picture with her!
Then back to Nagoya via Shinkansen (bullet train)! woot! Faaaaaaasttt!

Until next time,
Ama