Adventure to Kyoto

Three weeks ago we travelled to Kyoto with Sam's sister. It took us about 50 minutes on the JR to Kyoto station, which was surprisingly quick. After we checked into the hotel we walked around a little bit in search of somewhere for dinner. We came across and Ippudo ramen restaurant and decided to get some ramen. After returning to the hotel we tried some chocolate planets that Lucinda and Sam had picked up from Osaka earlier that day. Each planet had a different flavour. Earth was one of the coolest looking!

Saturday was a big day for us. Woke up fairly early and headed for Kinkakuji (Temple of the Golden Pavilion). Some of the leaves had started to change colour but we didn't get to see many vibrant red trees. I did like seeing multi-coloured trees with green, yellow and red leaves. Got to try some tasty matcha dango and this unique green tea soft cream. It didn't taste like matcha but like green tea.

Crazy tree

Some mossy carpet

We walked to Ryoanji (A zen temple with a famous rock garden). We were given some strange tea soon after entering the grounds that tasted like dashi and had seaweed in it I believe. The grounds were really beautiful.

Not sure why these little stone are up here

Spot the odd one out

We eventually got to Arashiyama after getting lost on our way there. It was very busy and it would probably be even busier now, as more trees would have changed their leaves. We walked through the bamboo path to get to Okochi-sanso villa (the former villa of a famous samurai movie actor). It was a pricey admission fee of 1000yen but I think it was well worth it and highly recommend visiting it. You also get a tea and biscuit as well as a postcard. It's beautiful garden with little stone pathways winding through the trees. There was also a little building where you could sit quietly and look out at this garden. 

I got to try some tasty soy-milk soft cream that tasted like asian soya milk rather than the western kind. They were also selling these tasty green tea biscuits. They didn't have open samples, however people would just come straight up and buy them without having to taste. We got a sample eventually and it was super tasty. It was a strong matcha flavoured biscuit with a slice of white chocolate in the middle! I wanted to get some but I thought they were a little too pricey. However, we got some from Lucinda (YAY! ) when she was leaving.

We were pretty tired and worn out by this time and decided to head back to the hotel to have a little rest. We went to some nice Katsu restaurant at Kyoto station where Sam had been with his parents when they visited Japan.

Sunday was a pretty miserable day as it was raining all day. We headed out to grab some breakfast followed by a quick look at the Nishiki ichiba market. We didn't have too much time as we needed to go back to the hotel and checkout. We bought some famous tofu donuts to eat whilst we were going..

Cookies from the markets

Next was Kiyomizudera, which was packed (especially one of the streets leading up to the temple) regardless of the poor weather. We were planning to see the tori gates at the Fushima Inari Shrine but gave it a pass due to the weather and all having soaked feet and shoes. 

People getting a drink of 'holy water'

Super red tree

Tasty nabe that night for dinner. Num num num...

Nabe pre soup and cooking

Ready to eat

Saw these two flavoured kit kats and had to try them. The one on the left is the flavour of some Kyoto biscuits that are strong in cinnamon. Too much cinnamon for my liking. The one on the right as you may have guessed is tea flavoured. That one I did like.