Day 6 - Kyoto

Hello dear travel fans,

Today turned out to be quite a classic tourist day as we visited one attraction after another.

The day started early. Even though I turned off my alarm, we were still woken up – because Ramona didn’t turn hers off. She insists that we agreed on this together. I can’t remember that! So we were awake quite unreasonably early on Pentecost Monday – around 8:30 AM. But that’s okay because: First, a cozy trip to the supermarket. The store is called 'Life' and was really well-stocked – and we stocked up on tuna mayo onigiri. For anyone who doesn’t know: These are prism-shaped rice balls with filling, wrapped in a strip of seaweed – and yes, it sounds wild and it is. Especially for breakfast. To be honest, I doubt that even Japanese people have that for breakfast. 😅

Immediately after, we headed to the Inari Shrine in the Fushimi district - one of the most important and iconic Shinto shrines in all of Japan. Known for its thousands of torii gates, which offer an incredibly photogenic and spiritual experience, while there are also thousands of other tourists 😃 A torii indicates that you are entering a place where the kami (gods/spirits in Shinto) are present. Passing through a torii is supposed to spiritually cleanse people and prepare them to meet a god with respect. Anyway, the torii gates were mostly donated by sponsors (mostly companies or individuals) to request luck and success. And the color red stands for protection against evil spirits and purification. The date of erection and often the name of the donor or company are also written vertically on the back of each torii gate.

As is typical for a tourist day, we immediately moved on to the next tourist attraction – in our case, to Gion, one of the most famous geisha districts in Japan. It is famous for its well-preserved machiya – these are traditional townhouses. However, we hardly saw any 'real' geishas today – instead, we saw a lot of tourists in kimonos. And honestly: The comparison is probably strange, but it somehow reminded me of Munich, where people walk around in dirndls and lederhosen 😄 Traditionally, geishas are professional artists who specialize in traditional Japanese arts such as dance, music, conversation, and tea ceremonies. The different corners and spots in the district were definitely quite worth seeing.

And when Ramona gets matcha ice cream, I of course can't just stand by and drool. So I took the opportunity and treated myself to a freaking original Kobe beef skewer. Bam! Juicy like nothing else – and this meat flavor? Phenomenal!

After all those appetizers – and of course the many kilometers walked – we were even hungrier. So off to Osaka station, directly to 551 HORAI, a legendary chain from the Kansai region. They claim to knead their dumpling dough fresh every day and in the filling – besides an inhumane amount of pork – they process a whopping four tons of onions daily. No joke. Ramona and I watched the kneading process of the dumpling masters drooling slightly through the window and can solemnly testify: These dumplings are made by 100% human hands – and taste amazing!

Content and happy, we went shopping right after. Or better said: Ramona went shopping and I was heroically dragged through the stores for two full hours. Allegedly, shopping also burns calories. As a reward, we had dinner – and afterward, we returned to the hotel happy, exhausted, and with two bags of new clothes and cosmetics.