Japan Day 6: Shrines, Markets, and Geishas!
We had a couple of setbacks today, but God has been very good to us and has uberly blessed us!
We started our day by packing up all our stuff in Tokyo and heading over to Kyoto. We took the bullet train but they didn't have any reserved seats left, so we had to sit in the unreserved section. Thankfully midway, two seats opened up next to each other!!! By the way, bullet trains are amazing! They cut the time of traveling by so much! Usually, it takes 5 hrs driving for this commute but with the bullet train, it's about half the time!
Midway into our ride, our pocket wifi went out and we were stuck with no wifi. luckily, our hotel was right across from Kyoto Station so we were able to find it relatively quickly. We dropped off our luggage at the hotel since it wasn't check in time yet, and then we used their wifi to map out where we were going.
Because Kyoto Station is known to be more than just a train station - it also has amazing restaurants, snack shops, and shopping areas. We decided to grab a quick bite to eat at the conveyer belt sushi. You see sushi on plates along a conveyer belt in front of you and you just choose what you'd like to eat! Man.. sushi in Japan is too good.
Then we went to Fushimi Inari Shrine. It was such a beautiful place that's famous for its beautiful bright red torii gates! There were endless amounts of them which made such a beautiful sight!
Adjacent to it were all these small shops and snack stands that had cute little souvenirs and foods! We got our first (of many) matcha ice cream (which Kyoto is famous for their matcha!) and it had just the right amount of bitterness and sweetness. So delicious!
Then we went back to the hotel because my eyelids began to itch heavily from the heat and Felix wanted to call and sort out the wifi ordeal. When we arrived, they asked if we wanted to be upgraded to a better hotel room for $40/night... um YES! And we are glad for it because it is fantastical in here and one night costs more than double the amount we paid! Anyway, the wifi thing didn't get fixed so they have to mail us a new one in Osaka when we arrive there tomorrow.
After resting a bit, we went to Nishiki market which had so much delicious green tea snacks, food, and souvenirs! I ended up picking up some stuff and eating wayy too many green tea items (I'm not mad about it lol). LOL there's Felix enjoying himself a huge fish cake!
Then it was time to go geisha hunting in the gion district. It was SO crowded with tourists (guilty). After waiting for a bit... legit I said to Fel, 'guess it wasnt meant to be!' LITERALLY right after I said that, a geisha came walking by the corner!!!!! I nearly keeled over as I tried to snapchat her (lol how unclassy of me). It was such an exhilarating moment!!!!
Lastly, we went back to Kyoto station to shop around and explore all their goodies. I also went to LUSH to pick up a bath bomb to soak my feet.
Was such a lovely day despite having no wifi. It was actually kinda nice to not have it and to just truly enjoy each others' company and explore on our own in hopes that we got it right from the map I just looked at lol!
Another day quickly came and passed! Excited for more green tea goodness in Kyoto!!!