Kyoto: Arashiyama

We spent our second day in Kyoto in the western area of Arashiyama.  We started the day with a delicious Starbucks chai tea latte, our first since September! They don't do chai in Japan.  We took a city bus out to the area, once again wall to wall tourists.  We started at the Tenryu-ji Zen temple, which had spectacular fall colors and gardens. Next we wandered through the bamboo grove and nearby park.  We ended up at the river and watched some brave people take boat rides in the cold.  Then it was onto the monkey park! The park has 120 Japanese snow monkeys. In order to reach the monkeys you have to hike a mountain about 20 minutes.  It was fun to be so up close with the monkeys. After feeding them and taking lots of pictures, we made it down the mountain and grabbed a bus to downtown. Our mission was to find an Irish pub. We were following the Lonely Planet recommendation and directions.  Japan cities aren't the easiest places to find specific locations with a rare street marked with a sign or numbers to show addresses.  But we found the pub and to our surprise they had several Oregon beers in addition to Japanese and Irish on tap.  Todd enjoyed the beer, I enjoyed the hummus (another favorite I hadn't had since July)!!          

A beautiful ginko tree in bright yellow!

We took a snack break to enjoy the temple pond. 

 

 

The glorious bamboo grove.

One mode of transport available in Kyoto.

"Children beware of the sleeping monkeys ?!" We can't read this sign but there were several signs warning not to stare at or touch the monkeys. Todd was taking a picture, looked too long and upset this monkey.

"Le petit singe," is Todd's nickname for me, he was comparing profiles.

You can feed the monkeys within an enclosed area, they sell peanuts, apples and chestnuts.  It was cute how their little hands grab the peanut right out of our hand.  Then they quickly open the shell, eat the nut, and beg for more.