Japan 2012 - Kyoto to Tokyo

Our last day in Kyoto:
We had our last instant udon breakfast, then packed up, and checked out!  It was raining so we ran to the subway entrance a block and a half away.  We took the subway to the main Kyoto station, and found a locker to squeeze most of our luggage into after many re-arrangements/attempts.  From there we caught a JR train to the Fushimi Inari shrine a few exits away.

Subway to Kyoto station

coin rocker

Kyoto Station is big

The Inari shrine stop was pretty close.  Apparently it is a Shinto shrine for fertility, rice, and there were a bunch of foxes there too, I think.  So I don't think I really know what the Inari shrine is for.  Maybe the kitsune udon fried tofu and inari sushi are all intertwined somehow?
In any case, it was easy to find at the inari train stop - there was a big fox statue right outside.

Fushimi Inari shrine exit outside the train station

We walked up the entrance to the shrine, it was pretty empty - probably cause it was Monday morning.

Walkway to shrine

It was kind of cold to wash our hands

Fushimi shrine

There were a bunch of different buildings, and we watched them do part of a ceremony.

What this area is known for though, is the gates!

Lots of gates!

Big Gates!!

little gates

I read that the gates are all sponsored by different companies or organizations.  Bigger gates are more money, there was a list of prices.

There were a lot of gates.  a lot.

some were falling apart a bit

Double gates

Thanks for the shyashin

outside the gates

far away gates

and lots of stairs!!

We walked thru the gates and started walking up a bunch of stairs.

In between staircases where there landings where you could eat at restaurants or go to different shrines.  At one you could buy small gates and we saw someone writing on one.

We kept going and going, but didn't quite reach the top before getting pretty tired.  So we circled back and made our way down.  The way back winded thru a more residential type area.

Wild monkey sign made us a little worried...

restaurant in between stairs

Not sure what this was?  on the way down

We finally made it back to the entrance.  We did some shopping then took the train back to Kyoto station.

back at kyoto station

We were a bit hungry, so we took a bunch of elevators up kyoto station to the top of Isetan department store where there were some restaurants.

Doraemon stairs

escalators up to Isetan

 

Ramen floor!  

Guess we'll eat ramen

7 different types of ramen

Ramen was good!  Apparently the whole floor is different types of ramen.  It was pretty crowded - one place had a long line.  We were too hungry to wait, so found another place, bought our tix, and ate up!  Afterwards, we shopped around the kyoto station area and bought a few last items in Kyoto.  Then back to the station to book our Shinkansen tickets back to Kyoto.  We went to the Isetan basement to get a snack for the ride.

Mich likes the umbrella bags

Imagawayaki at Isetan basement - I shoulda got red an!

Shinkansen ride was ~2.5hrs, but felt pretty quick.  We arrived back in Shinagawa around rush hour and had to grab the JR train back to Shinjuku.  This was the first time it was super crowded - we were all mashed in the train.  Mich was lucky and some Australian guys gave her a seat.  Finally reached Shinjuku and trekked back to Kabuki Cho to our original hotel Toyoko Inn.  Mich was tired, so I went out and got a rice bowl takeout and some other snacks for the hotel for dinner before we went to sleep.

Shinkansen back to Tokyo

Back in Kabuki Cho

Nakau rice bowl dinner with mituya cider