It's been getting down into the thirties at night, and our little wall heater struggles to keep up. We bundle up before bed and bury ourselves in comforters to stay warm, which makes it even harder than usual to drag ourselves out into the cold. Against the advice of every guide book ever written about Kyoto, we slept in before heading out for some temple sighting. Most things close by 5pm here (even the restaurants and stores shutter by 6!) so you've got to squeeze in as much as you can before then. After enjoying the most exquisite breakfast stuffs that the Nijo train station vending machines had to offer, seeing the Torii gates of Fushimi Inari Taisha became our goal. You might remember it as the place with all the orange poles in Memoirs of a Geisha (the movie). Thousands of glossy, orange Torii gates wind their way up and around a mountain, all placed there by businesses hoping to be blessed with success. Each gate represents a separation between the physical and spiritual world. The place loses its luster real quick when you actually think about what it is and how it got there, but orange sure is pretty! I was very excited to see the gates for myself and, while it took a while to get away from the crowds, we did finally manage to enjoy some solitude toward the top of the mountain. We weren't totally prepared for how much climbing would be involved, and we steadily shed our many layers of clothes as we went higher and higher. While everything we saw was striking and beautiful, even I have to admit that it all started to look the same after the first half hour. The main shrines were very interesting to look at, but without wanting to understand the religious significance of every detail or participate in the requests for blessings you finish your visit pretty quickly. By the time we got back down the mountain the caloric punch of the train station vending machines had worn off and we were ready for another delicious lunch of Ramen. I love the noodles but I can't say I have this slurping thing down. Making the noise is one thing, keeping the soup from splattering all over your jacket as you make it is another. All I can say is that I'll have one heck of a dry cleaning bill back home! After the slurp-fest we hopped on several more trains (we finally have the rail thing down) and got off about twenty minutes from Kiyomizu-dera, an iconic Buddhist temple. A meandering stroll past dozens of chopstick and teacup vendors led us to yet another massive and beautiful compound of brightly painted wooden buildings. This temple site was the highlight of the day. I've discovered that pagodas are my absolute favorite architectural feature, and this site had two. There is just something about standing under them, looking up, and meditating on the incredible skill that must be necessary to design and construct them that makes me smile from ear to ear. There was one large pagoda near the main shrine and, off in the distance, a much smaller pagoda dedicated to some goddess that could grant you a less-painful childbirth. I'm guessing the women didn't have much say when that was built or it would've been ten times the size. This was the largest site we've visited so far and we spent quite a bit of time here, walking from building to building. Mountains in the distance pierced the perfectly blue sky, and the thousand-year-old temple structures quietly sat in juxtaposition to the Kyoto city skyline below. While I was thoroughly floored and enthralled, it was all far less interesting to Brittany so we think we'll try to visit a museum tomorrow. Every time I looked to her for validation of my awe and excitement I was rebuffed with an unequivocal, "meh". Unfortunately some large sections were under renovation (even the fifty foot tall construction scaffolds were made of wood!) but it was still very popular with the locals. There were hundreds of people in traditional flowing robes and stunning kimonos, alternating between bowing in prayer and taking selfies. For some reason I was repeatedly asked to take pictures of groups and couples, which was great fun. Nobody ever asked Brittany; she looks shifty and they likely feared that she would run away with their camera. A long street lined with food stalls and Hello Kitty souvenir shops led us away from the temple and back to the train station. The path was packed but we had a happy accident when Brittany thought she was ordering some kind of strawberry ice cream and actually got something made from the root of a beefsteak plant (whatever that is). Neither of us would have ever ordered that in a million years if we had known what it was, but the flavor was actually tart and delicious. I hope we can have it again! Our last stop of the day was Nijo Castle. The whole main entrance was completely covered up as it's being renovated and we got there half an hour after they closed. I got one picture from the outside before walking away, so that one was pretty much a bust. No big deal though, I saw TWO pagodas today! We sat in the castle parking lot (sheesh, that's fun to say) and searched google maps for a nearby place to get dinner. Probably 1 in 5 restaurants has some attempt at an English menu, and without that you're pretty much on your own. We look at the reviews and see if any of them were written in English, if not we move on. Google maps has been absolutely indispensable throughout this trip. I tell it where we want to go and it tells me exactly which train to get on, how many stops before I get off, and where to transfer. It even tells you how much the fare should cost! I really can't imagine traveling here without this nifty little phone. On the downside, it sometimes tells us to go to places that don't actually exist, like the restaurant we picked for dinner. A twenty minute walk in the wrong direction for no food somewhat tarnished google's glow... Happily, as we could not find ANY open restaurants (at the outrageously late hour of 6:15, mind you) we were forced to visit a grocery store near the apartment. It turned out to be a great experience and we loaded up on sushi, teriyaki sticks, sticky rice, beer, orangina, yogurt, soda, bizarre candies, and...well way more than we should have bought. All part of the fun :) It's supposed to rain tomorrow so it'll probably be a slow day. We're getting up early to see the Golden Pavilion and after that it's Brittany's call. I think a Manga Museum is in my future...