playing tourist (day 1)

Our family friend, D is visiting from Hawaii, so this past Sunday, I tagged along and played tourist with him and his friends.

Our first stop was Fushimi Inari in Kyoto. It had been ages since I had been there that I really didn't remember visiting it.

Before exploring the shrine, we stopped into Oumi-ya for lunch.

If you are near an Inari shrine what better food to have than inarizushi, right?!

We had the kitsune udon and inarizushi set...the day was overcast and kinda icy, so this was perfect.

After lunch we explored the shrine.

Tons of torii (gateways). These are all donated by businesses as well as families. The size of the torii depends on the donation.

To get to the top of the mountain, you need to climb a LOT of stairs.

There was a hiking club that was there and boy were those seniors speedy!

<

And then we headed to Arashiyama.

What a treat it was to see a rainbow! definitely a rarity in Osaka.

Since it was Sunday, we met Satoshi after his German class.

Everyone was feeling a bit peckish, so we popped into Koro-kaki for a little something.

I had the black bean warabi mochi.

This cafe is located in a very old Japanese house. So old that their bathroom is located outside...ahem!

In fact, Satoshi explained that old Japanese houses didn't have hallways, so to get from one room to another you had to go out of the house to the room you wanted to get to...whoa?!

Which explained why the owner kept coming from outside to serve the different tables...

<

Then after the sun set, we walked to an area that was participating in a light up called "Hanatouro".

Satoshi and I had checked this out in 2006 but my photos didn't come out too nice then. I remember it being darker, not as lit up, I must say it has gotten better!

Despite the icy winds and rain, it was a nice way to spend a Sunday with friends.

Oumi-ya
82-4 Fukasa inari onmae-cho
Fushimi, Kyoto
Phone: 075.641.2009

Koro-kaki
Next door to Rakushisha
Arashiyama, Kyoto
Phone: n/a