Kyoto - boy

Rain rain rain. Kyoto is a beautiful city, even in torrential rain and since we were here only a couple of days we decided to force ourselves to brave the elements and see sites even though we felt a strong desire to stay indoors watching telly. The following day's forecast predicted some thunder to go with our rain so we decided to take a train out of Kyoto to see a couple of traditional hamlets and ramble in the countryside. One of these hamlets has even been given an edict to not to show any evidence of modern infrastructure in order for it to retain its Edo period look. Thankfully the six hour round trip plus the hike in the drizzle was absolutely worth it. When we were due to leave Kyoto the sun came out in full force so we altered our plans slightly to stay more time and see what Kyoto looked like under clear skies.

 

It is undoubtedly the most beautiful city we visited. Much of the city has a residential suburban feel to it and the shrines and temples embedded in large areas of woodland, the parks and a number of traditional streets are all perfect spots in which to wander. When the sun finally came out to play we finished with a mountain hike under a thousand torii which turned out to be dedicated to our favourite type of sushi (inari). And as unwitting pilgrims we though it appropriate to stuff our faces with said sushi after the visit. So we did.

 

As with every day in Japan, we ate well. When the rain doesn't let you stay outside for long the only other places to go are indoor food areas: Restaurants, food courts at the stations, covered markets and the last and best; basements of department stores which display such a variety of well presented food items they make Selfridges look like a Seven Eleven. And nearly all of these items taste as good as they look; we've done our research.