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Day 4 + Departure: Gion and shopping

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  Day 4 - Gion and Shopping! I set off to get my shopping done today, well it is my last day! I had been keeping an eye out for things but nothing really jumped out at me besides a cute birth flower charm from the Kinkaku-Ji temple.  I knew I had to get some presents for my kids (class) and had been staying right next to the Pokemon store and would be passing the Sanrio Gallery so was all set to get them some little gifts (also 4 of them have a birthday this month!!) Neither of them opened until 11 so I decided to head to Nishiki Market and checked it out.  Again it wasn't fully opened but I got a feel for the place and found the Instagram favourite ice cream shop, Sugitora  . Their famous parfaits were not available yet so I decided to come back later.  I then headed to Gion to check out the Geiko and Maiko. The main street in Gion District                             I was really lucky ...
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Day 3 - Fushimi, Fushimi

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  Day 3 - Fushimi Inari shrine and Fushimi-Momoyama-jō Castle I decided to have another day outside of the centre and headed to THE Shrine in the Kyoto Prefecture - Fushimi Inari temple - the famous one with the red covered walkway. This one! As you can see it was pretty rammed so I couldn't get many nice photos as there were ALOT of tall people and stopping was difficult because there were so many people and we were practically queuing!  The Temple's icon is a fox and it is famous for fortune telling and granting (or taking) luck. You can walk up the Mountain (Inari) but it was so hot I was not interesting in that and, frankly it too busy for me so once I have used the Omikuji (Japanese fortune telling sticks - you shake the box and then tip it until a stick comes out. It then has a word or number which a Shaman translates for you). and tied it up at the main hall (probably a good thing as it seems to have been a bad fortune!).  I then headed to Fushimi-Momoyama-jō...
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Day 2 - palaces

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  Day 2 I had discovered that I had lost my sun cream and so had to go to a pharmacy to buy a new one. I have gone for the spray - I'll let you know how it goes! I was especially annoyed about this because I had left it at the Onsen but a lovely old lady had spotted it and gave it back to me on my way out! Clearly my sinus headache was very bad because I must have dropped it somewhere else. It obviously decided it wanted to stay in Kyoto! Anyway after going to the Pharmacy and getting breakfast at Tully's Coffee . I headed to Nijo castle  which is were the Shogun would stay when visiting the Emperor and to protect the Imperial Palace. Unfortunately the main palace: Ninomaru Palace (and most of the buildings tbh) were closed for renovations but for a small extra fee you could see the famous murals from inside in a separate exhibition space. They were worth the cost - truly beautiful! The weather also meant that the little tree garden wasn't in bloom.       ...
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