Today we said goodbye to Kyoto and hello to Hiroshima. We rode the shinkansen (bullet train) from Kyoto to Kobe and then switched trains and rode the shinkansen from Kobe to Hiroshima. All trains were about 20 minutes late because someone was walking along the tracks. By the time our train arrived at Hiroshima the weather changed and it started raining. Lucky for us our hotel is adjacent to the station. We only had a short walk and we were there.

Corey and I are both tired and really just wanted a break from site seeing. Since it’s raining it seems to be the perfect time for it. Once we got to the hotel we ate some pre-made bento lunches that we bought earlier. Mine was a chicken and rice, and Corey’s was a tonkatsu and rice. We ate and rested and walked around the station a little. We found a mister doughnuts and decided to try some. Unfortunately they didn’t last long enough for me to take a picture. They were yummy. Tomorrow we have a planned day trip to Fukuyama where we plan to meet up with some of Corey’s friends from his mission. It Should be fun.

Today we decided to take it easier on our feet. So we went to the top of Inari Taisha. It is a big shrine with a bunch of orange Torii that line the walk all the way to the top of the mountain. The hike was about 5km or 3.1 miles. We climbed a bazillion stairs and gained in 1000 ft in elevation. Ok so maybe we didn’t take it too easy on our feet. The shrine is a huge tourist attraction and there were a lot of people there. At one point as we were starting the hike I felt like we were a bunch of cattle being corralled through the orange gates. It was hard for me to not start saying “Moo” while hiking but I was a good girl and didn’t. I don’t know if I would have offended anyone if I had. Something about being in Kyoto I’ve noticed is there are a lot of tourist and every where you go you can hear a number of languages being spoken around you. It’s really a neat experience.

After the shrine we decided we wanted to get some lunch. We headed to the city center train station in Kyoto by train. Once there we found a little restaurant in the Kyoto station. I remember reading online before coming that many times the best places to eat are in the train stations. This one was definitely some of the best food I’ve had here. I had a tonkatsu meal and Corey had udon. We decided to give our feet a rest for a little while and head back to the hotel to do some laundry.

After our laundry was done we walked back to the train station and headed out for dinner. We had some little hickups today getting on and off trains. Mostly not getting off at the right stop. It’s not a problem since we have a train pass for two weeks but only minor delays throughout the day. We had some ramen for dinner. In total we have walked over 11 miles today. Tomorrow is a travel day we head to Hiroshima where we will stay for a week.

We woke up to a perfectly beautiful day. We headed out by bus to visit Chionin temple. The buildings on the temple site are so amazing. The architecture of ancient Japan is so different from anything you would see in the United States. While visiting the site we sat down to take a rest for a couple of minutes and eat a small snack. Later we realized Corey lost the coin purse we just bought the day before to put our coins in. We had to hike back to the place he left it. Unfortunately it wasn’t there. It only had between $5-$10 of Japanese coins in it but still a loss. I was worried that he had put his credit card in there and his bills but luckily it was just coins.

After spending most of the day at the temple site we walked to the old imperial palace. It was really neat to walk around and see the ancient palace.

We climbed so many stairs today and walked over 12 miles. By the time we were back at the hotel my feet were so tired and sore. Hopefully tomorrow has less walking to do.

I remembered to take a picture of our breakfast at the hotel in Tokyo. The pastries were delicious. You can see how much I liked them by the amount of them I had on my plate. Actually I probably could have eaten more but I didn’t want to look like a pig. The salad is a cabbage salad with some dressing. That was good too. Also they had some eggs. They were a weird texture that I didn’t really enjoy but Corey seemed to like them.

After breakfast we checked out of our hotel and headed to the train station to catch the shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto. The train we were on travels at about 278 km/h or 165 mph! I think my sister Krystal would have gotten sick because she gets car sick so easily. The train goes so fast that when you look out the window all the stuff like trees and bridges become an extreme strobe. I just sat with my head down until there was a small town with fields or something that wasn’t so close to the train.

After a quick train transfer we walked about 1km to our hotel. It’s not actually a hotel but it’s a bed and breakfast. It’s pretty cool. There is a common kitchen and dinning area that we share with everyone else. We have our own room and we sleep on futons ontop of tatami mats. Our room feels bigger than our last hotel but we also don’t have our own bathroom we have to share like you would at a hostel.

After getting situated here we decided to explore a little by walking to the local grocery store and then getting something to eat at an okonomiyaki place. The store was fun to see. It reminds me of the china town market in Salt Lake City that we like to stalk up on our Japanese sauces. We had a really yummy dinner at a little place just up the rode. Corey had Osaka style pork Okonomiyaki. I ate pork Yaki soba. It was really good but I didn’t really care for the Bonito flakes they put on top. Bonito flakes are thin fish flakes that will wave and kind of melt with the heat of the food. It has a fishy flavoring that I didn’t really like. Tomorrow we will explore more of the sites in Kyoto and I’m super excited.