I know it's been a few days - was really tired! Anyway on Day 6 I headed to Arashiyama to ride the Sagano Romantic Train! And oh my are the views beautiful.
Thankfully as I headed there early I was able to get a seat in the open air car that I wanted - it was very cold but the view was worth it.
Once you reach the end you have the option of catching the train back or getting a boat down the river - now the boat is the most expensive activity I have done so far but I just had to and no regrets.
The river ride back was so relaxing and going over the "rapids" isn't rough just a bit wet at some points - video to come.
You also get a nice view of the train when it comes back past.
There were some very friendly ducks which showed up at one point.
After getting off the boat I headed to the famous Bamboo forest.
By the time I had been through the forest and reached the main Arashiyama town it was lunch time and super busy. The plan was to visit the new Rilakkuma Tea-house for lunch but after getting a ticket with a two hour wait it was going to be another hour and half so we decided to pay our respects to the Rilakkuma shrine and head back.
Although leaving was a mistake because it was out-of-school time and I experienced my first true squash in the train and almost had a panic attack. I managed to get back to the hotel before breaking down - not an experience I want to repeat!
After a few hours I recovered and headed to Fushimi-inari one the sun had gone down.
If I have one piece of advice for Kyoto it is go early and go after sun-down otherwise there are just too many people - specially for an introvert like myself!
Also the night-time photo's of the tori gates are amazing as the lanterns are lit and their light creates cool patterns on the path ahead of you.
I met some french men coming down from the top and they said I still had twenty minutes to go to reach the very top of the mountain and that there was only a shrine at the top but about three minutes more and there was a skyline view. So I opted just for the latter option.
Rilakkuma was thankful to head back after the city view, however the mountain took exception and my phone fell out of my pocket and the screen smashed! Nothing which makes it unusable but I may need to think of getting a new one early 2018!
By the time I reached the station again I was so tired I ended up on the wrong train but I only went one short stop in the wrong direction so not a big deal.
You always need your wits about you - even when heading home!
