京都へ行った

Yes indeedy, nearly a month ago, we went to Kyoto. Our thanks go to the magnificent Japan Rail Network, for the ludicrously inexpensive seishun ju hachi kippu.


Pictured is one of the myriad corridors of torii in Fushimi Inari, amongst Kyoto's most famous shrines (apparently featured in the film Memoirs of a Geisha.)


Written on the torii are names of individuals or businesses who have donated money to the shrine...our saintly landlord being one of them. A day or two before we left, he charged us with finding his torii...since there are quite literally thousands, he drew us a little map, and even wrote us a note which we were to give to a certain store owner, who would be sure to guide us...

...of course, the night before we left, we joined Brian & Kaori for their housewarming party...thusly, alcohol was consumed, bed was entered at an irresponsible time, and exited at a risky hour. We forgot both the map and the note. No matter, thought we, we can find the right torii...and we tried...

...did we find it?





No.



The rest of Kyoto was, of course, lovely, despite bursts of rain & cheap hostels (free dead cockroach with your duvet).

As mentioned earlier, we have also been graced with the prescence of my mother.

Cheers mum.

I can feel my English deteriorating exponentially to the improvement of my Japanese. Recently, I have been a man possessed when it comes to studying. This is partially why I haven't been blogging a lot of late. However, assuming after such a lengthy period of slack I still have readers left, (and to quote Dave) this blog isn't dead...not by a long shot...