Kyoto - Day 3, Shrines, temples and castles - Part I

We had one full day left in Kyoto and there was so much more to see. A came up with an “aggressive” sightseeing plan that would cover almost all corners of Kyoto. We got out of the door fairly early and headed to the Fuishimi Inari Shrine, a short ride on the train just south of Kyoto. This is the headquarters of over 30,000 Inari shrines. As the sign out front pointed out, there are “a lot of red Torii gates.” We walked for well over an hour and saw less than half of the gates which are arranged along paths through the woods. Look for the foxes with the key to the grainery in their mouths - there's one in the background of David and A cleansing their hands. These are mystical creatures in Japan and the shrine is “the deity of bountiful crops and good business.” We have no idea what the frog is for, but apparently offerings can now be purchased directly from vending machines conveniently located throughout the shrine. Due to J’s foresight, we arrived back at the station just in time to catch the train back to Kyoto.
J grabbed some sushi to go and fed D while A ran to get more cash from the 7-11. We’re good at spending yen. With our new funds, A purchased day passes for the bus which carried us all the way to the north-western corner of the Kyoto to the Golden Temple, or Kinkaku-Ji.