Tuesday, June 21
We had looked into hiring a guide for today and doing a walking tour but many of the tours we found online assumed you were new to Kyoto and shy about getting around. After 36 hours in the city we feel like old hands so we saved ourselves the 28,000 yen (a little over $250) and took our own tour.

After breakfast at the hotel (western style - eggs and toast) we took the train to Fushimi Shrine and Mt. Inari. It's the one place that I'd seen photos of and could say that's Kyoto. It started out raining but cleared up nicely. There were lots of people at the shrine but as we walked up Mt. Inari the crowds cleared up as well.

The entrance to the shrine.

We often saw school groups on our tours. This group of students were dressed in traditional clothes, rather than the usual school uniforms. 

We took many, many photos. This is just a sampling.

The view of Kyoto near the top of Mt. Inari.

At the shrine there were strings and strings of origami cranes.

You could buy a small plaque to write a wish on and hang with the cranes.

On our walk back to the train station we found a sweet little coffee shop.

We rested up at the hotel for a couple hours in the afternoon, then walked over to a near-by temple, the largest wooden structure in the world. We then picked up bikes to have for tomorrow's adventure, found dinner at a little shop (over-priced but tasty okonomiyaki) and called it a night. Tomorrow is our last full day here, our last day before we leave Asia, our last day before returning to the U.S.