Day 10: Kyoto

It always seems that the days are longer when you are on vacation. When you are home, the days are kind of similar and blending into each other, suddenly it’s weekends; while you are on vacation, there is so much to do that you are kind surprised that so much are able to be fit into one day.

Taking advantage of living right in a tourist spot, we were able to take some photos without any tourists in them. However, we still didn’t leave home early enough, because soon after, the streets were full again. We plan to leave even earlier tomorrow.

For our brunch today, we headed to a market about 20 minutes away. This massive foodie’s heaven is more than 400 years old! So many food stalls and shops stretching all directions, as far as eye can see.

We were happily trying many different things to eat, fried rice balls on sticks, seafood on sticks, deep fried creamy seafood balls, grilled dough with sweet red bean paste in the middle, and a slice of butter. Every thing was so delicious!! You are not supposed to eat and walk in Japanese markets, we were doing well at first, but forgot the rule when eating the last item. An announcement was made on the loud speaker, reminding people not to eat and walk. We felt so ashamed since it felt it was directed to us. 😂

One of my favorite places to visit when we were here 10 years ago, was Fushimi Inari Taisha, the mountain with all the red traditional gates on the paths. So I was excited to visit it again. Oh boy, compared with the visitors from 10 years ago, this place got so much busier now. It was hard to find a gap between people for a decent photo. We then figured out the trick was to walk slower than most people, so there would be more chance for a gap. We managed to take some nice pictures this way.

Next, we went to the Kyoto Imperial Palace, which has become a huge public park. We found a nice shaded spot under a big tree to lay down and rest. I actually took a nice nap there.

We then ubered to another park with nice gardens. You can always trust Japanese to create relaxing spaces for you to enjoy.

It was kind of hard to find a place to have dinner today. The curry place we tried to go to yesterday is closed on Sundays; we walked into a nice looking restaurant, only found out that it would cost us about $500 to eat there; picked another place and walked there with our already tired feet, only to find out they were closed, even though Google Maps said they were open. At this point, we were exhausted and hungry. Passed by a sign saying home cooked meal in the basement here, so we went down the stairs. The tiny restaurant only had 10 seats, but it did have three free seats. A cute Japanese couple was running the business, the wife did most of the cooking, while the husband running around doing everything else. It took a while for us to get our food, but the dishes were very tasty! Especially the home made dumplings!

Checked my Apple Watch when we got back home, I walked over 24,000 steps today! So glad my ankle didn’t give me too much trouble.Read more