And boy, did we overdo it!

I’m nursing some EXTREMELY sore feet and Ken and I both have sore backs.

But to recap since we last chatted…

We did go back out last night (well our last night) after doing some online searching for a good resturant that had English menus.  We had a chance to have yakitori which meant we split some grilled beef and chicken which came with rice and some pickled vegetables on the side.  It was a great meal and we walked back instead of taking the subway, which was long but interesting to just see how quiet the neighborhoods are at night.

I managed to sleep better last night so we didn’t end up sitting around for hours before we could go do anything.  Instead we headed out after 7:30 because we were going to the Fushimiinari shrine which, for once was very easy to get to.  It is difficult, even with pictures, to really express how beautiful this place was.  With thousands of Tori gates, some of which we didn’t even climb up to see, you are just amazed by the work needed to build them and maintain them!

We spent a good two hours on the site and that probably should have been enough to bring on a break. But, uh no, we decided – wait, I think I even suggested – that we do more.  I was feeling confident after how well our Sunday went so we proceeded to plot out getting to another site on our list. Nijo Castle. With a little help from a worker at the rail station we got there without a headache

It was, however, a very long walk just to get into the castle grounds and there were two palaces (one that was open for walking through but no pictures alas!) and several gardens to wander through and I don’t even think we made it to all that was there before we were feeling all the climbing we had done.

We finished up there with lunchtime approaching and a plan to travel to the neighboring city of Osaka for the afternoon and evening.  We were having trouble, however, finding somewhere to get some lunch.  We finally ended up at this fun little restaurant where you picked out what you wanted off a vending machine and then took them to your table.  Only confusion was dumb me hit the button for coffee when I was trying to find a soda or tea. Oops!  I had shrimp tempura and Ken had tonkatsu (fired pork cutlet). Great meal.

Nice and full we made our way to the correct station (a journey in itself) so we could go to Osaka because we wanted to see Den Den Town which is a nerd’s heaven (or as they call them in Japan–otaku/otakus). This was probably one of the more frustrating bits of our adventure.  Just getting to Osaka took a half an hour but once there actually getting to Den Den Town was confusing and we ended up walking a really long way in already tired bodies.  We did pick up a couple of anime items (sorry Edna, haven’t found anything for you yet!) but also had problems with our visa/debit cards. ARGH! Oh well.

We did spot a Yoshinoya, a Japanese chain (although I think there are some in California) of resturants that serve simple beef bowls and such so we picked up take-out so we wouldn’t have to go back out tonight.

We were both exhausted as we made our way back to the subway and train stations we needed to get us back to Kyoto.  Part of our walk was through an underground mall in the subway/train station area, that was pretty neat, and I probably would have appreciated it more if I had been so TIRED!

Once we finally made it back to Kyoto we trekked through the enormous Kyoto Station before giving in to the call of a taxi cab ride back to our room.  Which is where we sit, watching more Japanese TV while we decide what to do tomorrow.  What will it be?….