Yesterday we went to Kyoto and today we went to Kobe, I decided to put both in one post. Photos 1,2,3,4,5, and 6 are Kyoto while 7,8,9,10, and 11 are Kobe. In this post I hope that you will see Kyoto and Kobe through my eyes.

KyotoFirst we went to a bamboo forest called Arashiyama. Arashiyama is on the outskirts of Kyoto. Kyoto is like a bowl in the middle of a mountain range, downtown is the middle of the bowl but most temples and other sights are closer to the mountains. Arashiyama is in the west mountains. Arashiyama was very pretty but there were so many people, you had to stop pretty often because people were taking pictures of their family or friends. Arashiyama was very nice but if you are going to go there DO NOT go on a weekend, a Monday, or a Friday or it will be jam packed. Here is us at Arashiyama. I think I would rate Arashiyama a 7 out of 10.  Here is me in Arashiyama Park. Arashiyama Park, (not the bamboo grove that is in the park) was very pulchritudinous and also had some cherry blossoms. I would say if you are in Kyoto, you should definitely check out Arashiyama. After Arashiyama we had a picnic lunch in a park called Maruyama-Koen which translates to Maruyama Park. Unfortunately we did not take any pictures there so I can’t show you it. I did find a link to a site about Maruyama-Koen. Link

After Maruyama we went to a shrine called Fushimi Inari Taisha. Fushimi Inari Taisha is a shrine with a pathway of orange gates that make a path that goes for kilometres. Fushimi Inari Taisha is very famous and you can buy a gate and when you buy a gate your name gets engraved on it. Here are some more orange gates in Fushimi Inari Taisha. The big gates are more expensive then the small ones. Fushimi has 10000 orange torii (gates).This is a bamboo forest in Fushimi Inari Taisha. It had less bamboo then Arashiyama but it was better because there were only a few other people there. All the bamboo stalks had travellers names and love notes scratched into them, one said Evan!

KobeToday we went on a train to Kobe, the train was about half an hour. When we got to Kobe we went to a sake museum called Hakutsuru Sake Brewery Museum. We learned the process of making sake and then at the end we dressed up and took this photo. My Mom and Dad got to try 5 different kinds of sake in little cups. After Hakutsuru we took the train to downtown Kobe where we went to an observation deck on the 24th floor of Kobe City Hall. It was cool because we were there for sunset. The light in this photo is pretty cool. Okay, maybe I added a filter to it. 🙂This is the view from the other side of the building. I made it black and white, it looks like a photo from the old days. After the observation deck we walked to an earthquake memorial but I do not have any pictures to show you. In the park where the memorial was there was a fountain that did a really cool light-up show. After the memorial we went to a burger place that serves burgers with patties made out of Kobe beef. We were going to get Kobe beef steak but it was too expensive so we went for burgers instead. The burgers were great! The patty made from Kobe beef was so delicious. This is Denise having the first bite of her burger.This was my reaction to the first bite of my burger. We had a great time in both Kyoto and Kobe.