After lunch we walked to the Katsura River and crossed the 400 year old wooden Togetsukyō Bridge.
We then made our way to the Arashiyama Monkey Park
The hike in some places was steep, but over all it was a nice hike that took about 30 minutes. Along the path there were multiple places to sit and rest where there were trivia and information posters about the park. According to the signs there are about 120 Japanese Macaque at this park. They ask visitors to not make eye contact with the monkeys and to not get too close as they can become aggressive.
Just a few meters from the top, we saw our first monkey friends!
At the top of the hill is a small building and a flat area where you can see a nice view of Kyoto.
[Mama monkey and her baby!]
We went inside the building where we got a small bag of food. The monkeys would hang on the outside of the house and you can feed them!
[Mama and her TINY baby!]
After feeding the monkeys we hiked back down to the Togetsukyō Bridge and caught a cab to the Kinkaku-ji (aka The Golden Pavilion).
This beautiful Zen temple dates back to the 15th Century and is famous for this golden pagoda that is covered in gold leaf.
The original building was burned down by a monk in the 1950s, but it was rebuilt a few years later.
[Wishing statue - People in Japan will throw coins at wishing statues, similar to how people in the US will throw coins into water or wishing wells]
After walking through temple grounds we got some ice cream!
Mine was matcha and it was delicious!
Yuka, Luke, and I then took a bus back to the Kyoto station where we said goodbye to our amazing tour guide. I highly recommend Yuka and the tour that we did. She communicated with me via email before we got to Japan to make sure we had the perfect day planned. She was flexible and very knowledgeable. Luke and I learned a lot and had a great time!
Luke and I wandered through the Kyoto train station looking for a place to eat dinner. There were almost too many options!
[Ohtani shop]
We found a ramen shop where we got HUGE bowls of ramen. And keep in mind, these were the regular sized bowls!
After dinner we bought a bunch of pastries and headed back to the Rihga Riyal Hotel.
[Gotta try on the PJs 😁]
[Dessert 😋]
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