Day 13 - Osaka to Kyoto

This morning we needed to be checked out of the apartment by 1000h , so we got up at around 0830, packed our gear, tidied the place up (tidied up ourselves as well) and set off for Osaka Station for the last time. Wouldn't you know it, not a cloud in the sky.

We'd thought about taking the Shinkansen from Osaka to Kyoto, noting that it takes a whole 14 minutes to cover the 60 kilometres between the cities. As we weren't in any real hurry we elected to take the standard JR Rail train which took a leisurely hour and stopped at all stations along the way. Interestingly, the standard train was not in the least crowded, whilst the Shinkansen would have been very crowded, and the Super-Express which is the same as our train with less stops, also very crowded. So I think we took the best option.

Onboard the train to Kyoto.

Japan's trains come in all shapes and sizes. This one looks pretty cool.

We arrived in Kyoto at around 1040h, and thankfully our hosts graciously allowed us to have an early check-in. So, we headed straight to the apartment towing our suitcases behind us. Sky's usually excellent navigation skills weren't up-to-scratch today as we reached a point where we had no idea where we were. Thankfully a lovely stranger on a push-bike rode on up and not only helped with assistance with directions, but confirmed that her directions were correct by walking with us. It turned out that we were one-and-a-half blocks from our destination.

When we arrived at the apartment, we were greeted by a lovely couple, the owners of the apartment who showed us how everything worked and gave us some great tourist advice. With everything stored in the apartment, we headed to the centre of Kyoto for lunch. Afterwards, we split into two groups, Maureen and Sky decided to wander the streets of Kyoto, whilst Kyle and I had some unfinished business from last year.

Kyle and I headed back to the Station and caught the train to Inari Station and visited the Fushimi Inari Taisha, which is the head Shrine for the God Inari and famous for it's Torii Gates. Inari is the god of rice, but merchants and manufacturers have traditionally worshiped Inari as the patron of business. The earliest structures of the Shinto Shrine were built in 711AD on the Inariyama hill in southwestern Kyoto, but the shrine was re-located in 816AD at the request of the monk Kūkai. The main shrine structure was built in 1499.

The main Shrine structure sits behind the giant Torii.

At the lower parts of the Shrine.

 We visited Fushimi Inari Taisha last year, but unfortunately arrived too late in the afternoon which meant that we couldn't make the trek to the top of the Mount Inari. The average time for the hike to the summit of the mountain is about 2-3 hours, however, we were on a mission and did it in around one hour and 40 minutes. The interesting thing about the hike is that throughout it, you walk through thousands and thousands of Torii Gates. There are 10,000 gates on the walk to the summit and back. Along the way, there were also lots of smaller shrines, and a few restaurants offering dishes such as Inari Sushi and Kitsune Udon (Fox Udon), though I'm pretty sure that no Foxes are harmed in the making of Kitsune Udon.

The start.

As fate would have it, as soon as we reached the summit of Mount Inari, my camera literally died. It had been playing up since we left. Maybe the God Inari decided that we rushed the trek too much. 

Whew! Made it.

...and so did Kyle.

I tried resetting the Camera, reattaching the lens, changing batteries; checked and double checked all settings, however, all to no avail. Hence this Blog contains a lot of Kyle's phone shots. After we descended down the mountain, we wandered through the streets of Inari which is a quaint little town, that's very close to the centre of Kyoto.

Our reward.

Back at Kyoto Station.

We met Maureen and Sky at the apartment and then headed back into town for dinner. Afterwards, we sorted out my Christmas present made by Nikon.

So that's all for today; tomorrow, we are finally going to do something aeronautical.