Kyoto - Fushimi Inari and Uji

On our first full day in Kyoto, we headed to Fushimi Inari on the train.  I knew we would need some cash for the food stalls there, and the easiest way to get cash is from the 7 Eleven ATMs. I love the look of the yen. 

When we got off the train at Fushimi Inari station we popped into a couple of shops as Melissa was buying lots of beautiful postcards to take home. 

It was busy as usual, but once we started walking up through the shine, the crowds started to thin out. 

Jalen creeping behind Harri and Melissa. So funny!

There are always a lot of people dressed in kimonos at the shrines, which I love. 

We walked about halfway up and decided that was far enough as I wanted to head to Uji which was a short train ride away.  Before we jumped on the train, we grabbed food and I found this cute little area where Jay and I got some oysters.  The food is always so much cheaper than home. 

Uji is the between Kyoto and Nara and is the matcha capital of the world. It was only about 20 minutes from Fushimi Inari.  It was such a pretty city along the riverbank. 

It had lots of cute matcha shops.  

Melissa ended up buying some matcha from this shop for her friend back home. The owner was telling us that his shop had been passed down many generations, and he had served royalty and many famous athletes and actors. He loved showing us photos of all the famous people he had served and was so proud of his shop. 

The reason I really wanted to go to Uji was to see Byodoin Temple which is a World Heritage site founded in 1052 and is featured on the 10 yen coin. It was so beautiful. 

Jalen creeping again! 

When we headed back to Kyoto the boys were keen to go to the Pokémon Centre. They're always so busy and you often have to line up or take a number outside and wait for your turn to go in. 

We were so tired after six full days of walking and being flat out, but we were still loving everything.  We had started putting an 'oh' on the end of everything we would say, because the Japanese do that a lot with English words like 'cardo' for 'card' (credit card) so we would say things like 'I'm hot-o', 'I'm tired-o'. This video makes me laugh as Jalen is going to get a 'snack-o'. 

We had been trying to go to a sushi train since we arrived and they are also so busy at night, but we finally decided to just sit it out and wait for about a half an hour to get in and it was lots of fun.  The ordering screen had games that we could play. 

Jay was so excited to win a prize, but we accidently left it there! 

Melissa isn't very adventurous with her food and just wanted lots of plain rice.  Luckily, she likes gyoza which got her through the trip. 

We ordered so many plates and drinks, but it was so cheap compared to what we would've paid at home. 

Without fail our night would always end up with us grabbing treats from a konbini.  We often went to 7 Eleven as Melissa, and I loved the creme Brulé ice creams which you could only get there. 

When we got back to our accommodation the boys had fun unboxing what they bought at the Pokémon Centre earlier.  Jalen cracks me up. 

We knew that the next day was going to be very rainy, so we planned lots of things to do indoors.