4 friends. 3 countries. 5 cities. 3 weeks.

The first stop in our big Japan & Oceanic trip was Kyoto Japan. We spent about 5 days there (a few of those days were just half days).

We had a long trek to get there from Seattle. First, a 13 hour flight to Taipei, and then another 3 hour flight to Osaka. But everything went smoothy and we made it there in one piece.

Day 1:

We arrived in Osaka and then had to take a train from the airport to Kyoto, just another hour in transit to get to the hotel.

After getting settled into our hotel, we headed out once again to find some food! Right next to the hotel, we found a nice little ramen shop.

That concluded day one. We were all pretty beat from the journey there and wanted to rest up for a full day of exploring!

Day 2:

We hit the streets bright and early for our first stop in Kyoto: Kinkaku-ji aka the Golden Pavilion.

As we were leaving, we got stopped by a group of school kids who wanted to interview us, to practice their english.

Next up, we made our way to the Kiyomizu-dera Temple. To get there, you have to climb quite a hill, but there are a lot of nice little shops along the way, so its easy to take your time going up.

On the way back down, we stopped for lunch. I tried by first cold soba and then, of course, we had to have ice cream for dessert. (It was so hot out. We ate so much ice cream in Kyoto.)

Post lunch, we headed to Yasaka Shrine.

Then, surprisingly, we still had some hours left in the day, so we squeezed in a quick trip to Nijō Castle. We were able to go inside, but no photos were allowed in the building.

Before leaving, we enjoyed some matcha flavored treats at the gift shop/cafe.

Then, as we left, we saw some fun wall art in the subway station.

To finish out our jam-packed day, we decided to try out conveyor belt sushi! This one even had the capsule toys you could win.

Day 3:

We started our third day in Kyoto at Fushimi Inari-taisha. This shrine is known for its thousands of torii gates. And, if you've seen Memoirs of a Geisha, you may find them familiar.

After a morning walking around the tori gates, we made our way to Tenryu-ji Temple. But first, an onigiri break!

With full bellies, its on to the temple!

It was another hot day, so, of course we had a post-temple ice cream break.

Just a short walk from Tenryu-ji Temple was the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove. It wasn't nearly as brightly colored in real life as it was on the internet (time of year, maybe?), but it was still nice to walk around there. Mostly because it was out of the sun. And, while we were there, we ran into another group of school kids doing interviews for school.

Long day was coming to an end, so it was time to get some dinner! We decided to try something new: okonomiyaki! So good! I want to be able to eat this all the time now.

Right next to the restaurant was a little market area that we decided to walk through. Sadly it was pretty late & most of the shops had closed down for the night.

And that concludes day 3 in Kyoto!

Day 4:

Day 4 began with a very crowded bus ride to...

Sanjūsangen-dō! This is a super unique place to visit. This temple is full of 1001 different statues of Kannon. Sadly, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but if you get the chance, go & check it out.

Next, we went to Heian Shrine!

Starbucks break for cold treats & internet!

And we made a new friend while we were there.

Afterwards, we spent some time walking around Gion (the old Geisha district) and all the little shops around that area. Its a great place to buy nice souvenirs.