We kicked off our time in Kyoto by walking through Nishiki Market, a walking-only open air market full of shops that were all offering Golden Week sales. We were immediately impressed by the people and shops of Kyoto. They’re chic and fashionable and the shops are trendy and cool. It was a completely different vibe than we got in Tokyo. Tokyo both has a ton of personality but the people seem more cookie cutter. The shops more geared for mass sales rather than bespoke clothes, and an overload of offerings rather than curated shops. One of my favorite stores was called Hysteric Glamour - they had some really cool pieces full of color and personality. There was also an abundance of secondhand and vintage shops. If you’re planning a trip to Kyoto - definitely come with an empty bag. After strolling through the Nishiki Market, we stoped into Diwali Spice Indian restaurant on one of the top floors of a department store for a little break from Japanese food.

On Thursday we went for a walk in the Kyoto Imperial Palace, the former residences of the emperor when Kyoto was the capital up until 1868. It turned out to be a gravel oasis so we headed straight to Nijo Castle, an old samurai compound in the heart of Kyoto. Even though it’s very crowded, we’re glad we went because the grounds were so beautiful. Like everything else in Japan, it was full of stunning landscaping and showed a true appreciation for nature. We found an awesome vegetarian place not far from the castle so we made our way over there, but first stumbled across another market street where we found the most amazing gelato we’ve ever had at a place called Premarche. The pistachio gelato was almost too good to describe. We finally made it to the restaurant, REN, a completely unassuming restaurant hidden on the second floor of a building with no windows and down a tiny hallway. If you can find it, it’s so worth it.

Next stop was Gion, the geisha district. Originally overwhelmed by the crowds at the entrance to the subway we eventually made it a little deeper into the neighborhood. There are a lot of fake geishas walking around as it’s a very popular tourist activity, even for Japanese tourists. This area also borders the river where people sit on the banks and relax in the sun. There are some really incredible, secret alleyways in this part of town, and most of Kyoto. That’s one thing I really love about Japan. The amount of tourists can at times be overwhelming. You feel like you’re not experiencing anything original, but then you come across these tiny alleyways that make you feel like you’re having your own experience and constantly discovering something new.

We did something major today - we woke up early! To try and get a jumpstart on the crowds at Fushimi-Inari Taisha. We didn’t succeed in that, but at least it got us up and moving. The shrine sits at the base of a mountain which takes about 2 hours to climb and is a tunnel of over 30,000 smaller, orange shrines. Once again, it was overflowing with tourists, but we kept pushing and climbing and the higher we got up the hill, the more the crowds cleared out so we eventually had our own moment to enjoy and soak it all in. We found a secret pathway rather than going down that main road that led us through a small town and even a little bamboo forest before popping us back out at the train station.

We wound up at the Indian place again after being turned away from a couple restaurants. Most restaurants are very small and often run by 1-4 people that are usually the owners. This means that they are often full so we always had to make sure to have a plan B when it came to restaurants. That’s something that can be frustrating in Japan, especially as vegetarians with already limited options, but at the same time the small restaurants are so special and full of charm that having to resort to Plan B is never a bad experience. After dinner I persuaded AJ to spend 20 min at a cat cafe that we could see from our hotel window. A quick hand wash and we called it a night.

One of our best meals in Japan was at a place called Pettirosso, an Italian-Japanese fusion restaurant run by an Italian man and his Japanese wife, the chef. It had no more than 5 tables and it was impeccable. We had a few small pasta dishes and tortilla omelette made to perfection. We sat next to a nice couple from San Francisco who are about to embark on a similar trip as us, only they’re buying an Airstream and spending a year traveling across the US. I’m sure that will be an incredible experience - we wouldn’t mind doing it someday!

Our final day in Kyoto started with a walk to Philosophers Path, a tree-lined creek that’s serene and a great place to start any day. It can get overcrowded during cherry blossom season, but we missed that by a few weeks so it was very peaceful. Our last meal in Kyoto was memorable. It was Cinco de Mayo so we searched for a Mexican place and definitely found the best one, Que Pasa. A 15-seat, light, airy, cool restaurant serving burritos, nachos, quesadillas, and chips and salsa. We absolutely loved it. The food was incredibly flavorful and we paired it with some margaritas and tequila shots to really top off the day. The owner is originally from Japan and moved to the Bay Area when he was 9 so his cooking has a lot of California feel to it. He moved back to Japan and started this restaurant with probably the smallest kitchen I’ever ever seen - about the size of a studio apartment kitchen I had the year I met AJ. You don’t need a lot of room to create something special. That’s one very important lesson Japan has taught us, or rather, reinforced in us.