おはよう、日本! – Japan, March 2019 (Part 3)

• hidanyan

Day 3 (18 March 2019)

We fuelled up for the day at our favourite cafe in Kyoto: Smart Coffee. We had previously dined here the last time we were in Kyoto in December 2017, and had been craving for their fuwa fuwa (fluffy) french toast and tamago sando (scrambled egg sandwich) ever since. What really stood out for me was their super creamy cafe au lait ( not for coffee connoisseurs though! I love milk 🙂 )

The interior of Smart Coffee was just so vintage and classy
French toast with maple syrup, tamago sando, cafe au lait, coffee

After breakfast, we made our way to Togetsukyo Bridge. It’s a famous spot for viewing sakura in spring (late March – early April) and autumn foliage (late October – early December I think). We were a bit too early for sakura, but it was a beautiful view nonetheless.

The view from Togetsukyo Bridge
A street near Togetsukyo Bridge
Human traffic in Arashiyama Bamboo Grove
As you can tell by now, there were a lot of people passing through the bamboo grove. Maybe we should come here in the early morning next time
SUDDENLY TAXI

Nearby the bamboo grove was a Zen temple, Tenryu-ji. The compound was beautiful, with plum trees and a pretty pond.

One of the plants in the garden. Can’t quite recall what its name was though…
Plum blossoms

Next, we headed to Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavillion. It was our first time there – we had planned to visit back in December 2017, but on the day we were supposed to go here, we stayed in the hotel as I was nursing a really high fever. This made our visit here even more special!

The Zen temple’s top two floors are covered in gold leaf
My admission ticket
We had to jostle with our tourists for a good shot but hey – that’s tourism for you
Kinkaku-ji with the pond in the foreground. The whole composition of this place was just stunning

After Kinkaku-ji, we headed to Hirano-jinja (Hirano shrine), specifically to see a type of sakura that blooms early. And we weren’t disappointed! And so we checked off the second type of sakura from our sakura hunt.

Momozakura in the grounds of Hirano-jinja
The dainty little petals of Momozakura
We spotted another Kanhizakura tree while walking down the suburbs

Then, off we went to Kyoto Tower to take in a bird’s eye view of downtown Kyoto.

The view from Kyoto Tower

We ended off the day by filling up our tummies with the highly raved ramen from Ayam-Ya in Karasuma. I had a bowl of Spicy Ramen, while Naz had the Spicy Miso Ramen. Both were delectable. I highly recommend this restaurant!

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