Gion Shrine

I'm still not quite sure about the chronology here, but I believe that I eventually made my way over to Gion Shrine later that day (i.e. day 3.) Shinto shrines are typically open much longer hours than Buddhist temples (if they ever close at all) and they pretty much never charge admission either (of course, they don't generally have any famous artwork.) Anyways, I guess it was getting late and I decided to go visit Gion. It took me so long to find this place (I do remember that part.) T'was truly a pain in the ass. But I eventually found it, and got one of my favorite pictures of the trip. It was just getting dark, and the moon was now--a perfectly clear night. I think I took about 20 pictures of this scene, and this was the only one that came out. But man, did it come out.

I am glad that I visited Gion Shrine at night--the lanterns, in particular, were so beautiful here. I can remember it so clearly; it was a nearly perfect spring evening, and I was absolutely exhausted, but I still walked around to all the little nooks and crannies that I could find, the paths lit up by lanterns and lights.

Another view of that ridiculously pretty building... It's actually part of the main shrine, with deities enthroned within (open to the world) but you can't really tell from these shots--it was getting too dark.

This is taken from the main gate leading up to Gion Shrine. It's taken with my back facing the shrine, so that we're here looking out on the neighborhood of Gion. It doesn't look that romantic, I know. This was a big road, with lots of up-market shops. Honestly, I was a little disappointed of what I did see of Gion--very touristy, as could be expected, and it just basically looked like any other neighborhood in Japan. But I may have seen the wrong bits. I also got lost in this dark and mildly sketchy neighborhood when I took a wrong turn. I found my way back in the end, obviously, but I just made a bigger circle around the area then I had planned. This probably contributed to my annoyance with the Gion area in general.

Later that night--or it might have been the night before, it's hard to remember--anyways, I went to a really cool ramen place. I can remember so clearly--I was absolutely exhausted from a full day of sight-seeing, and I really wanted some food. More specifically, I really wanted some ramen, but I just couldn't find a decent looking place. I walked around and around for what seemed like hours, and it was getting dark and cold and I only had my sweater. Usually, in Japan, you can't go for 5 minutes without bumping into a ramen restaurant, but for once, that was not the case. I finally gave up, and decided just to head back to my hostel, and stop at any old restaurant I saw, even if it was just a fast food place (which I didn't really want--I wanted ramen!)

It was then, of course, that I found a ramen restaurant. It was just this sketchy little place, the seats all located around a central food-preparing area, like a million ramen places in Japan. It was staffed by one elderly Japanese man, and the only other customers were a small gaggle of school boys. I really wanted ramen though, so I braved any possible stares and walked in. And oh, it was like unto heaven in there! So warm and nice, and they had something I'd never seen before--all these bowls of hardboiled eggs, and you were allowed to take 2 for your meal. So I had one right then, absolutely starving as I was, and ordered some ramen. It was soooo good--enormous bowl, of course, lots of green onion, and I put my second egg in it. It was one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted--no doubt due primarily to my exhaustion and frustration, but I really do think it was quite good ramen as well.

Even more luckily, I was by that point quite near my hostel, and was able to immediately head back home to crash. It was amazing.