Today we woke up feeling much more refreshed than the day before, thanks to finally sleeping on a real bed. We picked up our box car from the hotel’s stacked garage system, which felt like a mini attraction on its own. The car would roll onto a platform, rotate automatically, and then go into the building to park. Feeling it spin while still on the car never got old. I started driving us towards Kyoto while Antoine searched for spots to visit throughout the day.
We had heard that parking in Kyoto can be a nightmare, so we wanted to minimise moving the car. Antoine found a parking lot located between two of our planned stops, slightly away from the main tourist areas. It was a smart plan, we could avoid a big crowd and park peacefully. We parked there and walked to our first stop, Tenryu-ji.
Tenryu-ji is a temple with a beautiful garden full of cherry blossoms and seasonal flowers. As we got closer, we realised we had to pass through the famous bamboo forest, which we had originally planned to avoid because of the crowds. The ironic part is that we chose this temple partly because it has its own bamboo section with less people. Turns out, it is basically in the same location. It was fully packed as expected, but we walked through it anyway and managed to grab a few photos in the brief moments when the crowd thinned out. We got to Tenryu-ji, and walked around the pretty garden. Antoine said this was his dream garden. We would need to win the lottery several times to achieve that.
On the way to the next temple, we spotted a small udon place with a terrace shaded by cute red parasols. It was about 10-20 minutes before opening, but we decided to queue early to avoid the crowd. Being the first in line paid off, and we got the best seat on the terrace. After enjoying our udon and a quiet break in the sun, we continued on.
Otagi Nenbutsuji Temple was next, known for its hundreds of small stone statues shaped like people. These were carved by visitors on a pilgrimage in the 1920s, each one reflecting the personality of its creator. Some looked happy, some mischievous, and some were holding unexpected items like babies or even tennis rackets. We wandered around, taking photos with the statues, and took a short break on the temple terrace to rest our increasingly tired legs. After that, we walked back to the car, briefly passed by a nearby cemetery, and moved on to yet another temple.
Our next destination was Fushimi Inari Taisha, famous for its endless rows of orange torii gates. Antoine took over the driving while I rested. I fell asleep briefly, and when I woke up, he was struggling in an extremely narrow street that our box car could barely fit through. I became the official wall distance monitor, guiding him through centimetre by centimetre. Somehow, we made it out without a scratch. Another small victory. After parking, we headed to the temple.
When we reached the gates, we were greeted by a sea of tourists. We had to weave through people stopping for photos at every turn. Eventually, we spotted a tiny gap between groups. That was our moment. We rushed in, took our photos quickly with almost no one in the background, and got out. A perfect example of how instagram photos vs. reality looks like.
We didn’t stay long because we had noticed street food stalls on the way up, which were our bigger priorities. This was our first proper Japanese street food experience, and expectations were high. There were so many options. Antoine started with a tornado potato, which unfortunately was cold and disappointing. Lesson learned. For the next round, I made sure the yakitori was warm, which made a big difference. For dessert, we got a chocolate filled fish shaped waffle, the only kind of fish Antoine will eat. And I had matcha ice cream to satisfy my ice cream craving. Just as we thought we were done, Antoine spotted gyoza and could not resist. We switched from sweet back to savoury, but it was worth it.
Our final stop in Kyoto was Gion, a traditional area with narrow streets and old style buildings. It was very crowded, which seemed to be a common theme for Kyoto. We walked up to Nio-mon Gate and then wandered back down through winding streets until we reached Yasaka Pagoda. The sun was setting, which meant lots of photos. We took what felt like a thousand pictures of the pagoda with the sunset in the background. On the way back to the car, we picked up one more snack, a deep fried meat filled bread, which was very satisfying.
After completing our slightly chaotic but very full Kyoto day, we headed back to Osaka. We weren’t particularly hungry after all the snacks, so we considered skipping dinner. But Antoine found a tonkatsu sandwich place near the hotel with great reviews, and somehow we decided we still had room. It turned out to be a very good, and a perfect way to wrap up our foodie journey today. Feeling quite tired from a long day, we called it a night and went to bed with pain relief patches on our feet.