A long day in Kyoto...

Wow we did a lot today!!!

 Started at the Bamboo Forest, Arashyama

 Check out the carved graffiti

 Mmm a stop for some ice cream -- sweet potato, roasted tea and green tea

 Tofu lunch

 Fishing boats along river

 Odd sight -- a stroller with 4 weiner dogs

 Famous zen garden (more zen to me today than my past few visits...)

 Temple bell

 Sister picture of the trip at Kinkaku Temple

 My (un)fortunate fortune...

Had to tie it off and send it away :(

More fabulous randomness

Here is another mish-mash of sightings in Kyoto

 These shops are pretty frequent and new since my last visit here. For a mere 3000 yen, they will dress you up in kimono so you can walk around the temples... there were TONS of young Japanese girls doing this, but since we saw no other Caucasians, we wimped out. Couldn't imagine wearing anything other than sneakers here, either!

 Lost in a bowl of Udon...

 Thousand cranes at small shrine

a Kimono department store along the Ginza

 Becky as geisha

Real, live Meiko doing a dance at sunset

Notice all the iPhones recording... 

Finally, a beer vending machine! It took almost the whole trip to find one (apparently they have mostly been eliminated here due to abuse....)

Heian Shrine

I was excited to bring Becky to this shrine because of the beautiful gardens. 

 Torii gate

 Sake barrels

 Ritual hand-washing

 Bad fortunes tied off 

 Garden

 Ume blossoms

 Stepping stones

A wedding!

Nishiki Market

It's raining again, so we decided to find Nishiki Market, which is covered and filled with oodles of food and fun!

 Enjoying sashimi on a stick (this is fatty salmon)

 Sea eel

 Miso-fermented pickles

 Bonito flake maker machine

 Preparing chestnuts

 "Candied" octopus on a stick...

With quail egg brain. Becky's so brave!

Kyoto

We are now in Kyoto to bring our trip to a close. Becky is free so I'm no longer wandering alone and we are having fun popping around from temple to shrine to shop (and walking about 9 miles a day....)

 the shopping lane leading up to Kiyamizudera

 Pagoda

 Drinking the sacred water (mizu)

UV sterilizer for water cups

Glad this is my 4th time visiting, as the shrine is under repair and mostly covered in scaffolding!

Dotombori

More bright lights, big city! We celebrated Becky being done working with a trip out to the entertainment district in Osaka. It was a bit overwhelming, but so worth doing at night to enjoy all the neon! The advertisements were almost comical. Osaka is definitely a great place to eat...

With group from lectures having Okonomoyaki

Giant spider crab restaurant

 Gyoza restaurant

 Tako-yaki restaurant

Sushi-go-round (with puffer fish restaurant next door)

Crazy pachinko parlor... a weird kind of gambling establishment with super loud machines that are kinda like slot machines with ping-pong balls (don't ask) and flashing lights