Before noon today we checked out of our hotel and took a fast train - but not a bullet train - to Kyoto. We had a hostel there: a $50 room with a bunk bed and shared bathroom in a hostel! It was on the fourth floor and they ask you to leave your shoes at the door, so of course we had to carry our bags up there in cruddy borrowed slippers.
The staff of the hostel in Kyoto are mainly foreigners, I guess they might work there for room and board. Most places in Kyoto close before 1700 but not the Shinto shrines, so they recommended we go and see a particular shrine near the hostel. We borrowed a power adapter from them which was a good thing, since the one I'd bought at the train station didn't fit my plugs.
It was raining all day, including when we went out to see mount Inari. That's a famous Shinto mountain with many shrines and thousands of red wooden arches donated by people in exchange for wishes: mainly businesses wishing for prosperity. We bought a clear plastic umbrella nearby it which was a good idea, since the arches don't block any rain. It was an interesting experience climbing up the mountain in the rain and walking under the paths of all those arches - I don't think we've ever seen anything quite like it. We got tired long before making it to the top, and walked down through a village with many smaller shrines.
We had our dinner in the train station: mostly tempura things, that is deep-fried food. Stations in Japan often have little restaurants that specialize in a certain food. This one was tendon, short for tempura donbori, that is deep-fried food served on a bowl of rice. Donbori is the typical cheap workers' food, and the rice bowl can be topped with all manner of things.
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