Miyajima and Kyoto

We took a train and ferry to Miyajima Island, home of the famous floating torii gate. At high tide the vermilion shrine gate appears to be floating.

Although there was solid rain all day, it didn’t affect the beauty of the island and its mountains and forests.

Deer wander though the town on the edge of the ocean looking for handouts. .

“There are also monkeys here but they must have been hiding from the rain.

We checked out the temple and its sake barrelsthen walked through the hills and koi ponds to the cable car. We rode it to the top of a mountain for views of the islands in the Sea of Japan. Thoroughly soaked, we found a restaurant with fresh oysters being fried outside. Fried oysters and eels with warm sake hit the spot.

The next morning we got on board the bullet train again headed for Kyoto, ancient capital of Japan. Our hotel is next to the impressive Kyoto Station, an architectural masterpiece of transportation, shopping and restaurants

We found a sushi train restaurant, where the central kitchen puts its fresh sushi on a track and you pick off your selections.

In the afternoon we went to Fushimi Inari shrine, famous for its thousands of tori gates. A scene from Memoirs of a Geisha was shot here.

This place was crowded with thousands of tourists, mostly Japanese, some of whom rent kimonos to play the part.

Back in Kyoto, we went to a floor of the Kyoto Station filled with ramen restaurants. Ramen is a local noodles and pork dish. It smelled like stinky feet, so I may not ever try ramen.

More historic sites are on the agenda for the next day.