Today I woke up at seven thirty and thought I would quickly get dressed and meet Steven for breakfast... We had a long day ahead and wanted to get an early start. However due to the fact I was sharing a room with a collection of Japanese dolls... This was never going to happen. There was already four of them crammed into the small sink space putting on their fake lashes and make up, they were very friendly and sweet and it made me recall living back at home with my sisters on a school morning and fighting for mirror space lol. Eventually after I had got dressed and squeezed in I managed to put a bit of mascara and blush and headed down to breakfast (I was planning on straightening my mane as I had gone to bed with wet hair... But Steven had the converter plug). Steven was perched on the laptop in the corner munching on his second helping of rolls and tea so I went over to join him.

After we had enjoyed a quick breakfast I snuck back upstairs with the plug and straightened my hair... The girls were still applying their make up!! To be fair they all look beautiful and put so much effort into their outfits and appearance, I'm just jealous because I'm sick of wearing the same clothes day in and day out... I've never felt so fuddy duddy and bland! Anyway a quick straighten later and we were off.

The first stop of the day was the Fushimi Inari Taisha shrine. The shrine s located in a place called Fushimiku on the outskirts of Kyoto and is the main shrine of the Inari. We were debating about taking the subway but since it was such a beautiful day we decided to do the 5km distance on foot, it was really nice as we strolled along the river and past the elusive Gion district and the through the traditional Kyoto housing areas. After about forty five mins we arrived at the shrine by a side point and headed in. Already there were quite a few people milling around and stalls selling fish shaped ice creams?! And the most beautiful fans I have ever seen.

The Fushimi Inari Taisha is huge and sits at the bottom of the Inari yama mountain with the whole complex spread out within this wood covered mountain. It was built by the Hata family in the eighth century as a shrine dedicated to the gods of rice and sake and many business owners pray here for wealth and prosperity. Throughout the 4km hike up the mountain you wander beneath these beautiful orange tori gates (translated as a bird perch and are often found at the entrance to many Shinto shrines, the tori symbolically marks the transition from the profane to the sacred). The gates are everywhere and are truly a magnificent sight, especially against the greyness of winter... I captured so many stunning shots where the orange of the gates stand out beautifully against the pale wintery landscape.

The shrine is one of Japan's most popular and is the head shrine to about thirty thousand smaller ones. The hike is a wonderful... Yet tiring way to spend the morning and the views of Kyoto from the mountain are stunning. Every now and then there is a small ledge that has a traditional Japanese tea room complete with cushions and tatami mats as well as several smaller shrines, each surrounded by statues of the sacred fox. The Japanese traditionally see the fox as quite a mystical creature that has the capabilities to possess humans. Originally they were seen as the messenger of the rice Gods but are now linked more to business. We walked the route for about two hours and waited ages to get a shot of the beautiful tori gates with no one under them... Well worth the wait. We then headed back down to see the main shrine which was equally colourful and breathtaking. Whilst I was off being an amature photographer Steven was very sweetly purchasing one of the beautiful fans I had been eying up earlier. It's really something... Made from wood with a delicate pink material fan decorated with butterflies... I actually fell in love with it but thought it was a little pricey at ¥1500, which is about a tenner. I'm so glad he bought it though... The gentleman selling it even rubbed a beautiful perfume on to it so when it is fanned you get so enjoy a wonderful aroma.

After we had enjoyed the temple a little longer and I was on a romantic high we headed off to explore the surrounding area. We wandered into a taste bud tingling French bakery and greedily eyed up all the cakes before heading in the direction of the Nintendo building. We weren't entirely sure we would be allowed in as we didn't know wether it was a museum or the headquarters... However on arrival it looked very much like the headquarters and it was confirmed when we enquired at security. A very sweet elderly gentleman simply head up a laminated bit of card saying "really sorry but you can't go in there", poor chap must get a lot of curious gamers trying to enter. He was very nice and laughed with us when we spotted his sign. We decided to head towards the Sanjusangendo temple and sample any sights along the route.

It wasn't long before we encountered a beast of a supermarket and where ever food shops are concerned we are very interested... Prob more so then when we visit a shrine. We headed into this very large double story mart and had a gander at all the goods on offer. Firstly there was the bakery, which is always a personal favourite... I adore bread but unfortunately it doesn't adore my waistline so I try to stay clear. However the very kind bakery lady offered us samples of two very nice breads and we couldn't possibly be rude so tried them... Delicious. Then she chased us down the aisle (we were moving on to fresh sushi) and gave us a little chocolate cake to try, this was very chewy... Kind of like a brownie on the outside and a chewy jelly on the inside. We kinda liked it the more we chewed, Steven was then quite happy to skip lunch and hang around the mart.

We had a good look sampling some very tasty marinated fish and collected our messages of bread, jam and some unusual looking Japanese sweets and headed to the till. On leaving we thought we would sample the sweets and they were also very strange but very more ish. They were three different coloured bulls on a stick and tasted like a kind of sweet rice but with the texture of a chewy sweet. They were actually quite nice and the more we ate of it the more we enjoyed it.

We walked on and accidentally found the Toji temple... That's the beauty of Kyoto... you stumble across little gems everywhere you go, although I suppose that's because the city has literally thousands of temples and shrines. The Toji temple literally translates as the east temple... its pagoda is the tallest in Japan and one of the first things you see if entering Kyoto by bullet train. It along with the now unused Saiji (meaning west) temple used to serve as the cities guardian temples in the Heian period after Kyoto became the capital in the 700s. The grounds of the temple holds a couple of large halls which house some big very eery statues and also the five story pagoda and its beautiful grounds. The whole place is pretty big and we enjoyed a leisurely stroll around it.

On the way out we passed a smaller temple across the street called the Hojuji temple which houses the tomb of Emperor Go-Shirakawa. We didn't head in as we were on route to the Sanjūsangen-dō and the clock was ticking. Eventually we found ourselves at the Sanjūsangen-dō and paid the entrance fee and headed in, once you enter the great hall your not allowed to wear outside shoes and must not take photographs. The lady overseeing the shoe removal was very friendly and assisted us in locating a spot for our shoes and pointing out the leather mules that you can wear within the hall. They fitted me fine but seemed very small on Steven so we rummaged a little for a bigger pair before the lady apologised and said they only came in one size giggling as she did so. We walked towards the hall and Steven was moaning they were tight... I then looked at his feet and saw he was wearing two pairs, I just pointed it out and laughed haha... No wonder the lady was giggling.

On entering the hall there were signs everywhere ensuring that everyone knew NOT to take photos. You were instructed to put the camera away and told you would get it checked as you left ....strict much?? Anyway we headed in and wow what a sight. Before you are one thousand wooden then gold gilded statues of Kannon, the goddess of mercy. They were incredible and each one intricately carved. They were all identical with a typical buddha style face and the numerous arms often portrayed in Hinduism representing strength and knowledge. The statues stand on each side of a Buddha and there were also twenty eight guardian deities standing in front of the statues of Kannon. The statues of Kannon are made from Japanese cypress and 124 of them are from the original temple rescued from a fire in 1249, the other 876 were constructed in the 13th century. The place is amazing and well worth a look...

On leaving we wandered the grounds and took a few photos before deciding to head home... It was now getting bitterly cold and we were shattered, we must have walked about 20km if not more. We took a leisurely stroll home limping with our sore feet and stopping to buy noodles. We passed the Kyoto tower and the huge Higashi Honganji temple that was unfortunately closed. We wandered in and straight downstairs to the lounge. Steven started preparing the noodles and I told him I will have mine later as I wanted to jump in the shower, he then looked at me with the face of a young kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar as he mumbled "I didn't buy you any" ...it appeared he had bought himself a huge bag of hoola hoops and a box of noodles as a 'snack' and thought we could eat later. I couldn't believe it! Obviously I'm not allowed to eat lol... I reminded him it was already nearly six o clock and he probably won't want any thing later! I told him not to worry i would just have a jam sandwich and went up to the shower laughing. Anyway I came down from the shower and there was some noodles waiting which I was actually pretty glad about as I was now starving.

We munched our noodles and I caught up with the gossip back home with my little sister Hannie... Then Emsie and Neil phoned and we had a good old Skype chat laughing loudly and hysterically... She even managed to get Mumsie on the line and it was so nice catching up as we rarely get the chance. Once we hung up I went in to the lounge and saw people sitting... I apologised if they had overheard our conversation to which they laughed and walked back to Steven blushing! I thought they had gone to bed lol... We then chatted with mum and got to see the lovely snow in Norfolk and got to see the wonderful chocolate cake that had been baked yummy!! Then with our tummies wanting some home cooked food we retreated to our separate dorms zzzzz.