Trip to Osaka and Kyoyo (Part5)

Another highlight of our trip was going to the Fushimi Inari Shrine and seeing the orange tori arches. This place seemed almost like a dream, there were tori arches everywhere we went. The arched paths split off into different directions and even went to the very top of the mountain. It is easy to spend many hours walking up and down the mountain in amazement; the brochure at the entrance of the shrine says there are over 30,000 arches!

On our Final day, we woke up early to return back to Tokyo. Another ten hours on a bus. Our trip to Kansai was just as good as I had hoped for and was very happy to finally get to see the area. I think it is definitely a place to go for anyone who is visiting Japan. I hope to return and see all of the things that we missed some day.

Trip to Osaka and Kyoyo (Part4)

The next day, Marta and I finally went to Kyoto. We had been looking forward to this for a long time We left early and went on a walking tour around the area that had many different temples and shrines. They were all so beautiful and almost overwhelming to think about how long it took to make them and how long they have been around. As well as the temples, we also looked around the many different shops and made sure to buy some sweets to bring back home as gifts.

The next day in Kyoto, we went to a bamboo forest and enjoyed the peace and quiet in nature and away from the busy cities. Nearby, we ate a traditional oden lunch at a small restaurant. I think it was the best meal I have had since I have been in Japan. Next, we went to a monkey park that we found. It was on top of a mountain and the monkeys were all wild. It was possible to walk right past them, while watching them play and groom each other. There is a building that you can go into and feed them apples and peanuts through a fence. This way it is safe for guests, the monkeys get a little crazy when there is food around. In the evening we went back to Osaka and enjoyed some more street vender food.

Trip to Osaka and Kyoyo (Part3)

On our second day, Marta unfortunately caught a cold, so we stayed in Osaka instead of making a trip to Kyoto. We spent almost all day at the Tempozan Harbor Village. There were some many things to do and it was right on the harbor which made for some very nice scenery. Of course we went on the giant Ferris wheel and saw all of the bridges, mountains and building of Osaka from the very top. It was breathtaking. After that we went through the shopping areas and then to the Suntory Museum. At the museum, we looked around for a bit then got excited to see that they had an MAX 3D theater. We stayed and watched two different short movies. The first was about the history of mummies and their tombs and the second was about undersea animals. Both of them were very exciting. When we finished we went to the sky bar in the same building and enjoyed a nice dinner with a great view. However, the best part was that across the room from us, was a table full of young businessmen and they were drinking and obviously having a great time. They were dropping cups and plates on the floor and laughing very loudly. We thought is was pretty funny and entertaining.