Today, we have the morning in Kyoto, before heading to Osaka.
We wake up too late for the hotel breakfast, which may be a blessing in disguise, and pack and check out, leaving our bags at the hotel.
We wander towards the metro and find a nearby hotel which is still serving breakfast and enjoy the spread. They have a decent selection of Japanese and western options, so we’re all happy!
After breakfast we take the metro to the Inari shrine, along with lots of other people! This is the first really touristy place we’ve been to and the streets are packed.
We slowly make our way to the shrine entrance and follow the crowd along the path of the torii, (red shrine gates) trying to take a decent selfie along the way.
There are people stopping randomly for photos and crowds funnelled through the torii trail. We keep up with the crowd until we reach an open area and the choice of a fork in the road.
Everyone is following the torii and taking the left hand option. I quickly check Google maps and it looks like there is a walking trail - another guide book fail! We are all wearing our trainers, and it looks like there’s a series of waterfalls along the trail, plus literally no one is taking this path, so we go for it.
The path leads uphill and through a bamboo forest, there are a few groups passing but it is mostly empty. It’s lovely and peaceful and we really enjoy the hike, even in the sweltering humidity!
We keep climbing, stopping for a cold drink from a random vending machine, before rejoining the main torii path just before the summit. There’s a shrine at the top, but no view, given the heat and humidity, we’re just happy with the satisfaction of getting to the top!!
Alex speeds ahead on the way down and although we’d asked him to wait at any fork in the path, he kept on going. When we came to a major fork, we didn’t know if he’d gone the right way and there was no way of contacting him, so the girls waited in the shade while I went back and explored the other fork.
It was clearly not a main path and was completely deserted. I thought it would be unlikely for Alex to go this way, and there was a train station at the bottom where he would get WiFi to contact us, even if he would be in completely the wrong place.
I turn back to catch up with the girls and we keep on walking downhill on the main path, when we are close to the end, we receive a message from Alex to say he’s waiting for us back at the start, which is a relief.
We make it down the mountain and meet Alex at the bottom. We’re all hungry and there’s lots of street food lining the whole route to the train station and since we’re hungry we buy a few snacks.
Diana buys snow crab, Bella has candied strawberries and noodles, Alex has Wagyu on a stick and I have ice cream with purple potato vermicelli on top. It is actually really delicious and the ice cream and potato combo works really well.
After the snack, we head back to the train station and to our hotel to collect our luggage. We are litterally drenched through with sweat, so we change in the lobby toilets and get going.
We then take the local train from Kyoto to Osaka and check into our hotel for the night. We’d hoped this one might have a swimming pool so that we could cool down, but no such luck.
The hotel runs a cultural experience daily, and the kids and I, go give it a try. We make onigiri using the machine to shape the rice and then wrapping with seaweed.
The kids really enjoy eating theirs and make a few extra. There’s no-one else here and the staff dont seem to mind.
After a rest and a shower we head out for some shopping ahead of our dinner. Just as we are about to leave the hotel, a thunderstorm hits and it starts pouring it down with rain. We borrow a couple of umbrellas from the hotel reception and order a taxi to take us to the shopping district.
The main shopping street is covered, so we hop out of the taxi and run under our umbrellas to shelter.
The kids buy some presents for their friends, and we then make our way back to the metro station, the rain now having subsided.
We take the metro a few stops to our restaurant for tonight and walk the final leg.
It’s a small restaurant, just 12 seats at the counter and not all were taken. We get settled and are presented with the prepared food for the evening.
Diana and I had both assumed it was a standard yakitori restaurant and we’d be enjoying chicken on sticks, cooked over a grill.
It turned out to be a specialist restaurant however with the first course being chicken sashimi!
To Alex’s credit he did try it, along with Diana and I. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity - thankfully!
The chicken has been specially reared and prepared in order to make it safe, even so, our overriding thoughts are, don’t eat raw chicken - it has been drilled into us for so many years.
We eat the sashimi, and that really sets the tone for the rest of the night!!!
We are then treated to grilled chicken breast, which goes down very well with everyone, before the chicken gizzards arrive. These are much less popular and only I finish mine.
With a few more courses of various chicken parts out of the way, we reach the finale, which consisted of chicken ovaries and eggs, which sounds about as appealing as it looked. Diana and I give it a try, and actually it’s not too bad, but the thought of it isn’t conducive to asking for seconds!! (Which we are offered)
The whole family has done exceptionally well, given that most westerners would run a mile from tonight’s menu.
After diner we walked home in the cooler evening air and then to bed after another packed day!