Kyoto - Part 1
We have had a pretty crazy few first days with the jet lag! We have gotten used to 4am wake-ups and 7pm bedtimes and are slowly trying to move the needle towards a more manageable schedule. In our first few days, we rode a bullet train to Kyoto (saw Mt. Fuji from the train), took the subway and local rail, ran a mile each day up the Kamo river, hiked up the trail of 1000 Tori gates at Fushimi-Inari Tasha (fox deity) shrine, saw a few dozen Buddhist temples, ate Ramen, curry, french pastries, and 7/11 meals, and dodged thousands of tourists searching the Kyoto landscape for Instagram photos. It's been a lot to be sure. The landscape here is incredible, the architecture is otherworldly, and the food is just better and cheaper than anything we have back home. The Japenese have a carefully balanced cuisine, and we've loved eating their food, but they also seem to be better than America at all the western foods too. Even the McDonald's was bet...