Raindrops on Maple Leaves

Last weekend Elspeth and I took a mini-break to Kyoto. This trip was all about the leaves - it was supposedly the BEST weekend for maple leaves and we had everything planned. The weather gods threw in some rain to see if we could handle it and of course we rocked it and stuck to our plan (it wasn't the 9 temple/shrine marathon outlined in Elspeth's magazine but we saw four and took our time).



We went to Kyoto in style - on the shinkansen. I love living in Nagoya. In only 45 minutes I can be in Kyoto. So at 9:30 we stepped off the train into Kyoto eki and headed towards Fushimi Inari. Some of you may remember how Elspeth and I climbed part of this shrine in the summer but had to turn back because it was so bloody humid (Elspeth even thought I had asthma because I was wheezing!). We were determined to climb the whole 4km loop and we were victorious!



Once we passed the first good look out, we had the place pretty much to ourselves. The leaves were beautiful, the weather perfect and the red torii were enjoyable, as usual.









We headed back to Kyoto eki where we did some 300 yen store shopping (got some supersoft and warm slippers) and then met up with Elspeth's friend Jeannine. We jumped on a bus and went to Kiyomizu-dera (one of the most famous sites in Kyoto). In the autumn the maple leaves are lit up at night. It started pouring rain and the lights didn't go on until 6pm so we found a Chinese food restaurant and hung out for a while (it was a good thing we had to wait - the food took forever to come). The rain didn't stop but we decided to go anyway - us and hundreds of other Japanese tourists. The place was packed, even though it was POURING. It was cool to see the leaves lit up and Kiyomizu-dera was breath-taking. I'm going back at Christmas break to see it properly during the day.





It is called the 'clear water' temple because of this famous waterfall where you can take a sip of water. There are three different spots where you can drink and the three of us became sort of a tourist attraction when we all stood at a waterfall and drank. Somewhere in Japan, there is a photo of three foreign girls drinking at Kiyomizu-dera.







By time we left were were soaked. We hopped in a cab and went to Jeannine's apartment (that she shares with her sister) and we hung out for a while, chatting, etc. Then Elspeth and I successfully navigated the bus system back to our hostel. Oh man, our hostel was so nice. It was super clean and new and they even gave you sheets and clips to make a curtain around your bunk. So that was day one. Tomorrow I'll post about day two, where you'll hear stories about 5000 maple trees, pagodas, rain, camera batteries dying, more rain and Curious George!