our time in Kyoto comes to an end

First of all, I would like to apologise for the lack of blogging lately, at the moment I'm about 3 1/2 weeks behind! It has been quite difficult to get enough time in any one spot on the internet to be able to get some posts flowing. I'm going to try my hardest to get up-to-date (or close to) over the next couple of weeks - it has become somewhat of a burden on me and is definitely making it difficult to express accurately the true emotions and experiences that I have had. Oh well, them's are the breaks.
The last 3 days of our time in Kyoto was spent roaming around, looking at the sites and just generally basking in the wonderfully cultural atmosphere this city possesses. It was also time for a bit of shopping, splurging on a few small items to keep as souvenirs. Most of the knickknacks we picked up were found in one the many large covered high-roofed shopping promenades, lined with small stores and stalls, which can be found all over the country.
One of the highlights of our last days is the odd shrine called Fushimi-Inari Taisha, the head shrine of the Inari mythology and dedicated to the gods of rice and sake (yes, His Holiness, the god of sake). Unlike most shrines, usually bearing one or two orange torii, this one has a 4km meandering path ascending the mountain, lined with the religious gateways. Hundreds of them. A seemingly never-ending hallway of orange.
We also managed to see a Geisha performance while we were in town. Geisha, and their trainees, Maiko, are required to know many traditional forms of entertainment arts such as music, dance and song for their clients, and these were all on exhibition that afternoon. The tea ceremony, in which two Geiko served us tea and red bean sweets, was neat but way too short and rushed, we felt. We would have liked more of an opportunity for photos of, and even with, the Geisha but alas, it was not to be and we were hearded into the main auditorium for the entertainment portion of our visit. A dozen or so Geisha held the responsibility of music-maker whilst many more danced and acted out a short play depicting the apparent submission of themselves to a samurai master. The performance was slow at first and the music relaxing enough to help us both nod off to sleep for a bit (shhh, don't tell anyone..), but nearing the end the energy of the music and play increased and the audience was wowed by the lighting, stage sets and, of course, the Geisha and Maiko in the mastery and elegance of their skills.
The final highlight was a place called Himeji, 90 minutes west of Kyoto by train, the famous white castle there, Himeji-jo, considered to be Japan's most splendid still standing. The town itself, although we only spent a couple of hours there, seems to be very lovely with a wide and sunny main strip. Himeji-jo would have to be one of the most impressive castles I've seen, although it's appearance reminded me much more of an extravagant mansion than a castle fortress in the traditional sense.
Our last night on Kyoto was spent with a bunch of guys from our hostel and we headed out to get some more purikura done before grabbing a coffee and having to walk back in the pouring rain. We managed to stay awake with Melissa and Christopher (another brother and sister pair) for the entire night at the hostel, sipping tea, chatting about anything and everything and arranging our photos using Melissa's computer (thanks for that M.), before packing up and heading for the train station in the morning. We had such a lovely night, and those guys are great..
Next stop: Hiroshima!

Photos:

So many temples...

Tea ceremony

the birthplace of Astroboy - Japan's first manga character to gain worldwide success

Fushimi-Inari

Painting Himeji-jo

our last night in Kyoto

us with Melissa and Christopher