Kyoto

  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...

  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.       ...

  Arrival I flew out on Sunday and it was very easy and stress free. The curse of the long name kicked in and I had to check in in person but that was fine. I foolishly got on the Airport railroad instead of the subway so paid extra for the express but hey I got there in plenty of time to check in and go through security. Jeju Air had been great at keeping me up to date with the delay and made sure I knew how to get to my gate (I had to catch a train to get to the 'Concourse'). Once we arrived in Osaka Kansai airport everyone got off row by row which was nicer then the usual scramble to get off a short haul flight in Europe! The QR code from  Visit Japan made the whole immigration and customs part easy and signposting to the free shuttle bus to the train station in Terminal 1 was great!  I got my cash out from a ATM in a convenience store in the Terminal and headed to the train station to get travel card and the express train to Kyoto. I had really tried to fin...