Japan Trip: Day 7 - Kyoto

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We got on a train, and visited Fushimi Inari, a temple complex and gardens, with more than 1,000 torii gates. I bought this card there that is supposed to bring you luck in love. (Hey, whatever it takes).

A special moment happened before we left. These very cute school girls in their school uniforms were apparently on a field trip there. They came up to me and asked me questions in English, like what was my name, where was I from, what do I like best about Japan, etc. I tried to speak a little Japanese to them, too. It was nice. A very thoughtful lady in our group snapped some pictures of us.

Then, we went to Uji and walked through the Byodoin Temple complex. Phoenix Hall is the only original structure remaining at this complex. It was completed in the year 1052, and luckily was never destroyed by fire at some point like many other old temple and shrine buildings. To see a structure like this still standing after over 900 years is very cool. Incidently, Phoenix Hall at Byodoin is on the back side of the Japanese 10-yen coin.

We had free time for lunch so I walked down this street outside of Byodoin. I was looking around at the menus and pictures of food, trying to find something that looked good. No beef curry rice in sight. I walked into this very traditional-looking restaurant. I was the only foreigner in there, and none of the wait staff could speak English. That's ok, I just pointed to what looked like an appetizing noodle dish on the menu. When it came back, I tried to get the noodles into my mouth with chopsticks and discovered, to my surprise, that the noodles were cold! They weren't bad, I just wasn't expecting cold. There was this sauce that came with it, that I figured out you were supposed to pour on the noodles. I think it was fish stock and soy sauce or something like that. I loved the atmosphere, but this wasn't the best-tasting thing I've ever had.

A funny thing happened while I was there. Up to this point, I had been in Japan for about one week, and I hadn't listened to any radio. All of a sudden, somebody turned on the radio in the restaurant, and on came the song "Separate Ways" by Journey, a 25-year-old classic American rock song. I thought it was funny that this was being played here, and I started laughing, and singing along.

Someday love will find you
Break those chains that bind you
One night will remind you
How we touched
And went our separate ways

After lunch, we walked on a bridge across the Uji River and hopped on a train to Momoyama and toured the Gekkeikan Okura Sake Museum. Interesting place, and they gave us a small bottle of sake free.

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Photos

Phoenix Hall at Byodoin
This is a view from the side. Unfortunately, I didn't get a good shot from the front, because there were so many people gathered there.

Me talking with the school girls_2
The gentleman standing off to the side was their instructor or chaperone or something.

Uji River
Taken from a bridge looking South towards where Byodoin is.