Arashiyama and on to Gifu

Arashiyama is such a lovely place. I liked it a lot

Plenty of other people think so too! There were lots of Japanese visitors, an amazing number of school parties, plenty of German, American, Italian and Eastern European visitors. A surprising, to me at least, lack of Australians.

There was a huge queue for the coffee stand along the river. I queued anyway. Lindsey, not being a coffee drinker, went in search of ice cream instead. She had found, bought and eaten her ice cream before I emerged with my coffee!

Waiting for my coffee to be ready.
The people outside are in the queue
waiting to order

Lindsey's view from outside

We wandered up the river towards the (famous) bamboo forest. The recommendations are that you should go early in the morning or later in the day to avoid the crowds. The recommendations are correct. However, we were engaged in eating breakfast early in the day and we would be gone before the crowds dispersed in the afternoon. It was very crowded. And I suppose the bamboo groves are rather magnificent. But I was a little underwhelmed by it all. It was just, well, bamboo. A nice enough walk. But I think I preferred the river, with the views of the mountains and the people in little pleasure boats and the street food vendors, and the trees. I am told there are smaller, less famous stands of bamboo in the Kyoto area which people do not flock to. Perhaps I might go and look at them one day.

I preferred this:

We ended up in the tourist tat shop street. That was lots of fun, although equally crowded. There is a Snoopy Chocolate shop, a Miffy shop, lots of Hello Kitty stuff and lots and lots of tourist tat.

We fortified ourselves with one of these each

Chocolate mochi, filled with chocolate custard,
strawberry on top

I would very happily come back to Arashiyama. There is more yet to do. And perhaps next time we will go to the bamboo early in the morning, before the crowds get there, and see if it is any more impressive.

You remember the school groups? A positive horde of them were at the Shinkansen platform heading towards Tokyo at the Kyoto Station. I said to Lindsey that there enough of them to fill an entire train. And then - an entire Shinkansen came, just for them. And on they all got and away they went. I know not where they were headed but it had to be somewhere on the Gifu, Nagoya, Yokohama, Tokyo route.

We got onto the (FIVE MINUTE LATE!!!!) Shinkansen to Gifu, where Austin met us at the station. A visit to Liquor Mountain and then onto their place where Kaori had prepared a chicken curry rice dinner for us