Osaka Day 4 (Kyoto Part 2)!!

A So I woke up early this morning and derped around on my phone while Rana slept. Then we both got ready and ate our melon pan and bananas.

Jose had said he'd come with us back to Fushimi Inari, but then this morning he said he didn't want to anymore.

So we set off for the station together. We rode the subway to Umeda and then took the JR to Kyoto. At Kyoto, we switched to the JR Nara line and rode it to Inari.

(Kyoto station)

(Rana holding this cute red heart bread with cranberries that she bought at Kyoto station)

It had gotten really cloudy so we were worried about rain. And it was way colder than yesterday. :( But fear not, we set off to make the climb anyway! 

And guess what?? It totally sleeted for a good twenty minutes! At first we thought it was rain, but then I realized we weren't getting wet! And it was bouncing off my nose haha.

(Look at the little heart cut out at the top of the temple! So cute!!)

(Such a pretty view!)

So we made it to the top!! It actually didn't take that long. On the way down, if started sleeting again. At one point, we decided to veer off the main path and go down into the woods a bit. We came to a cool little shrine place!

Then we headed back up to the main shrine because it looked like the path in the woods didn't go anywhere really and it was kind of muddy.

When we got back down to the bottom of the shrine, we headed in a different direction again to go see a bit more of the shrine. We ended up finding a path through a town with houses. All along this path were mini shrines with torii. There was one I really liked that was dedicated to the Zodiac! So I went in and prayed to the cock.

I was soooo hungry the entire way down from the top of the shrine. Like the kind of hunger that hurts your stomach.

The little village we were in ended up at the first part of Fushimi Inari. So we walked back down to the main part and left. We stopped at the convenience store so I could get orange juice because I'd had a sore throat all morning (I think fom drinking the temple water). The OJ made my throat feel a lot better!

The train back to Kyoto took forever! Only two minutes after it was supposed to have left did we find out that is was delayed by eight minutes!! We sat there shivering in the cold wind, waiting for it. It was so so bad.

Back at Kyoto, Rana was now really hungry too. She just wanted to eat at a konbini or go back to Osaka and pick up something from the grocery store. But I wanted to eat in Kyoto since it was probably my last time coming here. So we walked around a bit outside. Then I saw a building that was part of the station, with restaurants on the 11th floor. One had katsu, which was exactly what I was craving!

So we went up to look at it. It was kind of expensive and I hesitated for a while, but then was like what the heck? Rana said she'd come in too and save her konbini food for tomorrow.

So I got this like $11 lunch with everything I wanted!!

(Aww I want it again. I seriously crave katsu 24/7)

So see that miso soup on the right hand side? Looks like regular miso soup, right? Wrong!

Guys, it had like mini clams in it... I hate clams, but these were actually good! I think because I didn't get as much of the nasty clam flavor.

After that amazing lunch, we walked down the huge outdoor staircase that goes down 11 stories! 

Then stopped by the post office so I could exchange a traveler's check because I ended up spending way more money than I thought I was going to! Like, at first I was only going to bring $100 and then my mom told me to bring another $100, and good thing she did, or I'd have been soooo screwed! I'm losing money fast.

The exchange rate was excellent today! I got 10,156 yen for my $100 hehe!

Then we got back on the train for Osaka. On the subway, we debated going back to our hostel to shower for free and rest or going to Shinsaibashi to shop. Because we only had an hour and a half since we were meeting everyone for dinner at 6:30.

We finally decided to just go to Shinsaibashi and shop, since it would be stupid to go to our hostel and then all the way back.

First, we stopped in a clothing store where Rana had gone shopping with her grandma.

(I wanted this. I mean isn't it perfect?? Because I always say lawl. Lawl)

I saw these two awesome matching Engrish sweatshirts that I was about to take a picture of, when these two Japanese girls snatched them up and bought them, haha. Girl, you do not know what you just bought!

Everyone else texted us at 6 telling us they were at the bridge already. Rana realized she'd taken me the wrong way (she thought she'd remembered where we were from when she was with her grandma and thought we were heading towards the bridge) and so we turned around and ran through all the covered malls to Dotonbori and the bridge (the one overlooking the Glico man).

On the way, we passed the Kit Kat store!! I really wanted to go, but we didn't have enough time. Argh! I bet they had every Kit Kat ever made in there!

(Dotonbori)

(The bridge)

So we found everyone after waiting a bit for them to show up. Then we all set off for dinner. Cameron led the way because we had all decided we wanted to try out this make your own takoyaki place where Rana had gone with her grandma, and Cameron had looked up where it is.

(Pretty lights we saw on the way)

(Bye Glico man!)

(We saw this One Direction truck twice during our time here. It would pass by and blare "Story of My Life" by One Direction. Ew)

The place was really cool! It had a spiral staircase that took us underground to where the restaurant was. Rashaa didn't come because the takoyaki we had eaten Monday had made her sick, so she was scared to eat it again.

We split up into two groups again. I was with Rafa, Rana, and Ben. We decided to order 3 orders of 12 takoyaki, so we each would eat 9! And we ordered regular, cheese (which I didn't eat), and mochi-shrimp.

They put in the ingredients and poured the takoyaki sauce on top and then we each got a pick thing to turn them with! I taught everyone all the things my host family taught me when we all made them. 

Ours were kind of bad and the waitress had to come over and help us out a bit lol.

(Cheese on the left, regular on the right)

(Our first attempt)

(After the waitress fixed them haha)

Then came the mochi-shrimp ones! Those we did much better with! The waitress didn't have to help us at all!

The yaki part of mochi-shrimp takoyaki was made with mochi, so it was gooier. It was really good!

There was this huge table of drunk people next to the rest of our group. They kept dropping stuff. Then they started talking to the other guys and asking them about America haha.

Rana didn't want a bunch if her takoyaki, so Rafa, Ben, and I ended up having around 11 each! It was awesome!

After dinner, we found Rashaa and walked back to the bridge. Everyone except Rashaa, Heather, Jose and me, went to a bar to drink. I wanted to go back to the Kit Kat store, so I led everyone there. It took way longer to walk there than I estimated because Rana and I ran back so fast!

On the way, we saw two girls from Nanzan! Heather knew them both. One was Fu from our 300 class! She was really excited to see Heather and me and we all took a picture together!

After we left them, we found the Kit Kat store had closed already. :( It was before 9 and all the shops were closing!! So we started to head back. Rashaa and Heather decided they wanted froyo, so we decided to go.

Guys, I think I need a personal trainer. Like someone to keep me from eating as many freaking sweets as I have been these past few days. I mean, at least I can blame it on vacation.

Like, I told everyone I wasn't going to get any froyo, but then I saw all the weird flavors and toppings Japan has that America doesn't, and I was like "fuck it, I'm getting froyo."

And because I wanted to put all the weird ass toppings on (like aloe. I kid you not, you could pieces of freaking aloe on your froyo. It ended up tasting really good!), it cost ended up weighing a TON and costing me way more than if been planning to spend on it... Yeah...

But it was worth it! I mean, look at this beauty!

(The froyo flavors I put in were: matcha, apple, European pear (I kid you not), and strawberry)

Damn, it was good. Then we all took the subway back to our hostels. While Rashaa, Heather, and I were walking to our hostels, we saw this drunk dude walking in the middle of the street!! So Rashaa and Hearher walked me back to my place just in case. :)

I went to bed around 11:30 and heard Rana come in shortly after.

~*~ PICTURES ~*~

Day 2 :)

Beautiful view!

Snow up on the mountain!

WE MADE IT TO THE TOP!!!!

Zodiac shrine

I prayed to the cock

Kit Kat store!!

Shinsaibashi!

Froyo toppings (see the Koala March up there? Lol)

Sign at the train station