6/12 - 6/13 Hello Kyoto!

Today we said goodbye to Miyajima and traveled to Kyoto. Before leaving Miyajima, we decided to see the torii gate one last time and to pet some of the deer again. We ended up chilling with the deer for a while and took pictures with them.

"'Twas lit." - Riley 2017

After this it was mainly more traveling. We took the shinkansen to Kyoto, which took about 1.5 hours. After getting settled in our hotel, we decided to go explore a nearby temple and do some shopping. 

So this staircase in the mall has a really cool light show. Courtney was excited. The mall this was in was insane. There are about 11 floors of escalators that we just using again and again just to get down after checking out the top. 

This is from the roof of the insane escalator mall.

Kyoto Tower

So onwards with today!

We had to get up super early, as our bus tour started at around 8:15 a.m. The bus tour took us to a bunch of UNESCO Heritage sites - Nijo Castle, Kinkaku-ji Temple, Kyoto Imperial Palace, and Kitano Tenmangu Shrine. Of course these places were beautiful. My only complaint is that all of these sites were so crowded. You had to keep up with the group so there wasn't much time to stop and really look at something. Also if there was a quick stop, the crowds made it difficult to take pictures of stuff. I managed though. Here are some pictures from the tour - 

The Kinkakuji Temple (Golden Pavilion)

People were trying to throw coins into the hole that's in the center to try and make a wish. I tried to throw a 1 yen coin. I failed. 

So after the tour was done, we all got food and relaxed at the hotel for a few hours. Luckily we had enough money in the budget to visit Kyoto tower, so that's what we did next. This tower is freakin' big - you could see all of Kyoto from it. 

Here's a shot from Kyoto Tower. 

We also got some group pictures from a free photobooth downstairs. By photobooth I just mean a backdrop and some props. 

We're a weird bunch.

Afterwards we explored the mall some more and I got me some Mister Donut. Courtney, who is my roommate for our stay in Kyoto, insisted I watch this anime called Yuri On Ice so that's what we did. My legs and feet are still recovering from the hike in Miyajima and all the walking around we did in Kyoto, so it was nice to have a more chill-out day. See you guys tomorrow!