Kyoto and an Old Friend :)

This weekend was full of exciting surprises and adventures. More Pictures to come in the morning. 

First of all, my good friend from high school, Anthony, lives in Tokyo teaching English also. We didn't know each other was coming until we were already here. He arrived in Tokyo two days before I arrived in Osaka. We have been trying to plan a trip to see each other ever since. On Saturday I get a e-mail message on my phone from Anthony saying he is going to catch the Shinkansen after work on Saturday to visit! I was so excited to see and old friend and to get to explore the Kansai region with such a good friend. 

After work on Saturday I came home and got things ready. Then, I went to the Shin Kobe station, which is where the Shinkansen lets off in Kobe, to wait for him. Sure enough, right on time he comes off the train! I was so happy to have him here visiting! We went to the pub so he could meet some of my friends and it happened to be one of their birthday's, so we stuck around and celebrated on the 7th floor. I love that pub.

The next day, we decided we wanted to go to Kyoto to get some history and visit a shrine or two and maybe a rock garden. Anthony had been to Kyoto once before when his older brother had been teaching English here a couple of years ago. However, he only went once place, Nijo Castle (see previous post). This was a perfect coincidence because that was the only place in Kyoto that I had been also, so we knew that no matter what it was going to be a new experience for the both of us. :)

The first place we decided to go was Fushimi-Inari Taisha. This is one of Kyoto's oldest shrine and it honors one of the goddess of agriculture and prosperity. There are over 40,000 mini shrines representing Inari here. There are also foxes all throughout the shrine. This place is amazing and it dates back to the 8th century. Some of you might recognize it from it's pictures above because of the 10,000 orange torii that make up tunnels all through the shrine. They were featured in the movie Memoirs of a Geisha (Kyoto is the only place in Japan where there are still Meiko and Geisha; and no, they are not prostitutes).To walk the full path around the entire shrine, and through all the torii, will take a minimum of two and half hours. It's worth it. This shrine offered breathtaking views and the tunnels were just so unreal. 

It was surrounded by a bamboo forest and when Anthony and I saw a trail that went off the beaten path, we had to follow it. Mind you I was wearing a dress and blue ballet flat style shoes, but if you know me well, you know that shoes won't stop me from hiking through a little muck to explore! The scenery was amazing on the trail and we couldn't help but feel we had found a lost land and that we were really experiencing something special that other visitors missed out on.

This shrine was also interesting because there were not many foreign tourists which made it much less crowded and much easier to enjoy.

I have so much more to say about this beautiful place but I must refrain. Lesson plans await, as does prepping for classing and meetings. Please check back for the continuation of my weekend story...One more Shrine and many more adventures. Check back tomorrow. :)