(Getting to) Kyoto and some touristy activities

After a beautiful hike around Nikko to forget about the fact that I wasn't diving into the Japanese Alps after all, I set off towards the south again. However, I wasn't alone: Scout, the hostel-owner, and Kitty, the Australian girl with whom I went hiking, decided to join me until Utsonomiya. This meant I had some company for the first 30km or so, and more people that could share the joy of the beautiful sakura along one of Japan's oldest routes to Edo. :)

The days afterwards were for me, myself and the bike again. A lot of traffic to cycle through and past the Tokyo-delta, which was not so much fun. Some climbing to make the tour around Mt. Fuji, which was beautiful but strenuous. A ferry ride filled with a nice chat to some elderly ladies, one of whom did unfortunately drop my camera (luckily it still works). Cycling through endless fields of tea, which makes dor beautiful pictures thst I didn't take because I was too busy pedaling away. And then, one last long day and arriving in Kyoto!
The route that I cycled is visible through this link: http://www.afstandmeten.nl/index.php?id=1306727,1306724,1306723,1306722,1306721,1306720,1306718 sorted per day.

I decided to comfortably stay in a hostel for four nights, what a treat! Unlimited electricity and wifi, and not having to find a new suitable sleeping spot every night, amazing! :)
The first evening I met Maisie, a girl from Brighton temporarily living in Tokyo, and since our plans were alignable (she was aiming for some classic tourist attractions and I had not made any plan at all), we decided to team up and explore the temples together.

Day one counted three temples, a lot of photographs, laughs and delicious icecream. In the evening I had a sudden streak of planning-the-Kyushu-part of my trip that made skip the evening stroll in Gion, but the next morning me and Maisie found each other again, to visit the million (well, many) Tori gates at Fushimi Inari.
Our first impressions weren't that great but luckily the number of tourists gradually declined as the number of gates we passed increased. We even managed to take some (hopefully slightly) less standard pictures and again had a lot of fun. Instead of rushing to the bamboo forest we decided to go for a beer, and on the way also obtained tickets for the Geisha dances for that night. This traditional Japanese art was intricate, elegant and very intriguing to watch. Certainly well-worth the (relatively) expensive tickets!
Maisie didn't want to leave Kyoto without seeing the bamboo grove (rightfully so), so on her last morning we caught the train for a short ride to get there. Again we were slightly disappointed at first sight, but yet again theis sentiment didn't last. Although mildly frustrated that neither of us could do the casually very elegant posing, we eventually gave up on the photoshoots and headed back to central Kyoto for a good lunch. Then, time for goodbye but knowing that we'll meet up in Tokyo (yay!) Maisie hopped on the Shinkansen and I went for some errands. Grocery shopping, cleaning the bike, packing up all my stuff and the afternoon was rapidly filled!

After a decent 3-day break from cycling I am quite keen to hop back onto the bike. Shikoku and Hiroshima, here I come!