Fåborg

After a long time of being at home we are now on a new adventure. We are the first time in Denmark.
First stop was Fåborg. Here are the beautiful fotos.

Fushimi Inari Taisha

Today we visited the Fushimi Inari shrine in Kyoto. This Shinto shrine is famous for its thousands of red wooden torii gates.

The gates cover a steep hill and as you climb higher and higher up its slopes, you walk through a dense network of wooden gates, with areas covered in smaller shrines featuring miniature gates

 

 

 

 Apart from the torii gates there are statues of foxes everywhere. Foxes are considered the messengers of Inari, the rice god this shrine is dedicated to.

We ended our trip with a visit to a tradtitional onsen, a wonderfully relaxing bathing facility with hot and cold baths, a sauna and an excellent restaurant! As it wasn't allowed to take pictures there, we end todays report with these pictures of a few young cats living at the Fushimi Inari shrine.

 

Himeji Castle

Today we took a day trip from Osaka to Himeji to visit the famous White Heron Castle. Immediately after stepping out of the train station you see the castle in the distance.

We took a tour of the castle and the castle grounds, climbing up the six story main keep from where you have an excellent view over the whole city.

Arashiyama

 

Today we visited Arashiyama in Kyoto. First we went to the famous bamboo forest. It was pretty crowded, but we managed to take a few good pictures 

 

Right after that we took a walk around the garden next to Tenryu-ji, a Zen temple.

Arashiyama has quite a few attractions and it was packed the day we visited! To escape the crowds on the main road we decided to visit Iwatayama monkey park. As we hiked up the main road we already met some of the residents.

After a brisk 20 minute walk we arrived at the hilltop where you can feed the monkeys from inside a hut. We sat down on a bench and enjoyed the sunny weather. There were plenty of monkeys wandering around, climbing up the feeding hut, lying in the sun grooming each other and climbing up trees. After watching them for a while we took the road back down the hill.

Meiji Jingu

Today we visited Meiji Jingu. Meiji Jingu is a Shinto shrine situated in Shibuya, Tokyo. Before you arrive at the shrine itself, you have to enter a forested area through a huge torii gate and walk by two displays of sake and french wine barrels which were offered to the shrine.

The forest also contains a garden. Sadly, we didn't visit at the best time. In June, the garden will be full of blooming irises and other flowers!

Sensoji Temple in Asakusa

 

Today we visited Sensoji Temple in Asakusa. It was just five minutes to the temple from our apartement, so we went there first thing in the morning. We're still tired from the jetlag, but the temple was a great experience!

While taking a walk around the temple area, we met some fellow travellers and took some pictures with them!" (naganekoshop)

for lunch we had some Onigiri - rice balls, that come with different fillings. The perfect snack for a busy day of sightseeing and after following the steps for unpacking them we sat down for a tasty meal.

Tokyo National Museum

Yesterday, after a 12 hour flight, we arrived in Tokyo! We didn't have enough energy left to explore much, but we just had dinner and a walk around our new neighbourhood in Asakusa. 

Today, our first stop was the Tokyo National Museum. There was so much to see, from a small collection of sword and lance blades, to clothes, calligraphy and ink drawings. Wonderful!