Japan 2023 Part 2 (Osaka and Kyoto)

We flew from Nagasaki airport to Osaka.  It started a bit tough because Peach Air was not going to allow me to bring my travel guitar with me in the cabin.  Rather than ship it, a recipe for destruction IMO, I left it in KZ's car.  I was fairly convinced it would be melted by the time we got back (but it worked out that it was fine).   Once we got to Osaka airport (KIX), we fumbled around trying to figure out what train to take to get to downtown (a bit of a challenge given the language differences).   Once we got settled, we headed out for eats.  Osaka is an incredible city and we only got a short glimpse of it.  

W

Osaka - I think you could eat out every night of your life there and never see a quarter of the places.  The ones in the back alleys are the way to go for sure.

Then it was the bullet train to Kyoto.  What a marvel.  So comfortable, so easy, so fast.  If I visit Japan again to see KZ, I'd take the train from Tokyo to Fukuoka.  Makes flights seem horrible.  

Kyoto is unbelievable.  It is truly a magical city with over 1600 temples and shrines.  We took hundreds of pictures.  

We ended up wandering a quiet canal alley, found great food and drink, enjoyed the fireflies and the magic of it.  

Our second day there we ended up walking over 15 miles, taking in temples, shrines and an infinite number of Torri gates.

There was sushi of course as well.

Hit up a bamboo forest. 

On our last day, we still walked another ten miles, taking in more ... and again just scratching the surface.  

It was then back to Kawatana (next post).