Day 8: Saturday

Our last day in Japan! How sad! I've posted a lot of pictures of this day so I'm not going to write too much. I'll write one more post after this to wrap-up my experience.

This first picture is in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto. We are on our way to the Gekkeikan Sake brewery, and I just thought this was a nice view of the narrow streets in this area (and many of the streets in Japan that aren't main thoroughfairs).

We toured the brewery's museum because they don't brew sake at this location in the winter (I believe that is correct. I know they didn't used to and we didn't get to see the actual tanks so I'm making an assumption here).

We were able to try samples of different sakes, including plum sake, which i bought a bottle of.
Mmmmmm...

After the brewery we stopped back at the hotel. I took this picture because I just think the walkway between the street and the hotel entrance is so beautiful and dream-like.

Once we all dropped off our sake purchases Mike, Meagan and I took off to check out more of the sites. This is a picture I took from the "Philosopher's Trail". It's a trail in the woods along the edge of the town we stayed in. There were temples, shrines, vendors, and some shops all along the trail. It was a great last day.

Mike and Meagan in front of a small shrine.

A Japanese woman praying at another shrine.

While walking back to the hotel, I snapped this picture of a gas station pump because I just think it is a great idea to show the cars where to park by the pump. :) We need that here!

Just another beautiful picture. Japan is FULL of beautiful pictures.

Paul leading us to our final group dinner. Another very nice area.

Dinner was all tofu. I did try everything but I have to say that I did not enjoy it. A small group of us visited a local McDonald's after to supplement our dinner, but I'm glad I got to experience it.

After dinner Rick presented Keiko with a gift from the group to thank her for all of her help. We really could not have had such a wonderful time on this trip without Keiko. She knew many of the best places to go and provided translations when needed. Her family also gave everyone in the group Japanese sweets as gifts which was really sweet of them. Thank you Keiko and Keiko's family!