Kyoto Adventure: Day 1

Today I arrived in Kyoto at 5 am to begin my New Year vacation in one of Japan's most beautiful cities.
I took the bus from Shizuoka at 10 pm and we drove all night to get to Kyoto this morning. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep. The bus was pretty nice, though, considering it was fairly cheap (10,000 yen round trip - about $100). There was a lot of leg room and we got complementary slippers and a blanket.

Bus.

Kyoto station.

After wandering around for a good half hour looking for my hotel (my terrible sense of direction never fails on vacation in a new place), I finally located it, dropped my stuff off (but couldn't check in until 3 pm), and made my way to Fushimi Inari Shrine, the place I wanted to visit the most while in Kyoto. I've seen photos of the hundreds of red torii gates and think they are so beautiful and great for photos. I took the train from Kyoto station to Inari and made my way up the mountain under the torii gates.

Actually, I say in this video that there are 1300 torii gates, but I may have made a mistake. I don't think there are quite that many.

There are many fox statues and things throughout Fushimi Inari. They are considered to be messengers.

Quail? Maybe.

Grilled eel.

After Fushimi Inari, I went to Nishiki Market, a famous food market with over one hundred shops sellings all kinds of Japanese food. It was crazy crowded, though, and I literally had to push my way past people to get through. You may think that Japanese people seem meek and mild, but man, can they be pushy!

Shrimp and other shellfish.

Octopus and such.

Japanese sweets in little sculptured shapes.

Vegetables.

Well, hello to you, too!

Very expensive crab.

Creepy looking white fish.

After the food market, I was getting pretty exhausted from the bus ride, not much sleep, and getting pushed around by shoppers, so I went back to my hotel.

And even though it's only 9 pm, I'm in my hotel-provided pajamas and going to bed, baby! I want to get an early start tomorrow.

Stay tuned for more Kyoto adventures!