We started off around 9:30 again and walk to Northwest Kyoto, to the Kitano Tenmangu shrine, where the Tenjin-san market was being held. We really really liked Monday's Kobo-san market and were hoping for something similar...and it was! It was smaller scale, the area wasn't quite as big, but the variety of stalls was great and the food stands as well. We even met and older couple from Coral Gables who every time they passed us, saw us eating and stopped to ask what we were dining on and if it was good. Hahaha. We ate octopus balls or as we've learned the name now, takoyaki. I shouldn't say "we", Kevin ate them. I had a bite and it just wasn't my cup of tea. They make them in these large griddles with a bunch of half circles. They start by putting a kind of pancake batter on the hot griddle, then they put a vegetable mix (cabbage, carrots and something else) and then they drop chunks of octopus in the middle. Then they flip them all with little wooden skewers and add a bit more batter. They don't cook them all the way through (why I didn't like it), it's soft and batter-y in the middle. Then they top it with dried fish flakes (not fish food flakes), nori and mayonnaise. It makes for a pretty dish. We also ate deep fried pork on a stick and deep fried chicken on a stick. I also had a chocolate covered banana, a food I always find awkward to eat in public, lol.
The shrine itself was busy, there were some trees blossoming so we had fun taking about 1000 pictures.
Our next destination was the Golden Pavilion, Kinkaku-ji. It was designed to be a "comfortable villa" according to the brochure for a retired shogun in 1397. It was later turned into a Buddhist temple. In 1950 a crazed young monk burned it down and it was reconstructed in 1955, they added a bit more gold to the reconstructed version though (the bottom floors). It was unbelievably GOOOOOOOOOOOOLD. Pretty and nice to have visited such a landmark. Apparently it only rivals Mt Fuji as one of the most known sights of Japan. Touche Kinkaku-ji! The pond around it was pretty as well, it was called the mirror pond and the reason is pretty obivious... We even had our fortunes told! ;)
After the Kinkaju-ji, we started walking towards Ninna-ji Temple. The walk was long and pretty boring. Once we got there, the temple itself was a bit boring and it was doing that odd drizzling thing again (the weather here really is so unpredictable!). We didn't stay long, we (I at least) are starting to get a bit templed out. They are all starting to look the same to me. : /
From Ninna-ji we decided to walk through Myoshin-ji temple, Torin-in temple and Taizo-in Temple since they are all in the same area. Literally all next to each other in a vast park. Sadly (and a little happily?) they had all just closed so we only meandered through the general walkways around the temples and through the park. It was a pretty area, but kind of like a maze. We reached a dead-end at one point and had to back track and find a new way out. Kevin stopped at one of the hole in the ground public restrooms and said it was a nice one, lol. So if you are ever in the area and need to pee in a porcelain hole, he recommends that one.
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| My Japanese counterpart lives here, these pots are all pansies! |
On the way back to the hotel we walked along Marutamachi-dori (street) and stopped at a Lawson's for a snack (ok, ice cream...). We also stopped by a pet store because as anyone who knows me can imagine, there is no holding me back when there is a gate with puppies behind it playing. So in we went to see all the puppies and kittens. AWWWWWWWW.... I could have taken them all home. I must say though, I hate pet stores where they keep the puppies and kittens in little windowed boxes, but this place had a lot of staff, relatively few pets and while we were there, they were fussing over one or another of the puppies so it wasn't as bad as some of the places I've seen in Florida *cough cough, Petland* The prices were astronomical, dogs and cats were over 120000 yen so take off 2 zeros and that is about the price in euros or dollars. They also had guinea pigs, ferrets and bunny rabbits (also really really cute) and some birds. No rats and no hamsters and no fish or reptiles. They only sell cute animals lol. I so wanted to buy Manta and Kissa cute outfits but Kevin said no. Hmph.
We eventually made it back to the hotel for a quick break but we were off again within 30 min to Noji castle by our hotel. Tonight was the opening night for night viewings of the grounds. They light them up to display the castle and the grounds, a lot of which were and would have been...sakura. Only a couple trees were open though. Bummer! The place would have been a lot nicer if they had been. It was still pretty though. The night was really cold though so we didn't linger too long.
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| THIS WAS A STAGE DECORATION, THERE WERE INSTRUMENTS SET UP SO I DON'T KNOW IF THEY HAD ALREADY FINISHED PLAYING. BUT THEY HAD A NICE BACKDROP...! |
So off we went to find dinner. We considered a restaurant but what I really wanted was large salad (something light, all we've eaten is Japanese junk food or heavy meals) and Kevin wanted sushi. So we went to Fresco, grocery heaven. They had really great sushi there that we picked up and Kevin got instant noodles.And I got my salad.
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| ON THE LEFT IS EITHER TUNA OR SARDINE MAYO AND CUCUMBER FILLING, THE RIGHT HAS SHRIMP. BETTER THAN PUBLIX! |
The night was pretty late by the time we ate etc so once I finish the next few sentences, it's off to bed for me. Kevin is already sleeping, he has such a knack for it when we start writing this blog. ;)
But thanks for reading my rambling. Tomorrow is Arashiyama and the bamboo forest and monkey park!!! Woooooohoooooo, animals!!!!
-Anneli (and Kevin, the sleeping beauty)
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