Q. What`s big and red and holy all over?

Tori Gates. Millions and millions of Tori Gates. Yesterday we climbed to the top of the Inari Shrine. You may have heard of it - it`s a mountain path literally covered in giant orange Tori Gates. It is impressive yet somewhat bemusing. We also had a looksey around the Golden Pavillion. Surprisingly not as elegant as the Silver Pavillion. You still get that rush of awe and astonishment when you see it but overall it was a little (just a little) disappointing.

The highlight of the day was being able to enter the Imperial Palace. It is rarely open to the public, so it was just great timing that we were able to get in and see it. A very imposing, regal kind of place. Again - awe inspiring. You could just imagine all the Princes and Princesses getting around the gardens in full garb and the Emporer sitting up on the impressive throne ignoring the commoners.

But the biggest disapointment of the day was the Manga Museum. It really should be called the Manga Library. If you had a year and could read Japanese, you could spend every day in there reading manga and never get tired of it. But we only had a couple of hours and can only read English, so apart from some pretty basic `this is what manga is` exhibits, there really wasn`t much to see.

Last night we went up the Kyoto Tower at dusk and watched all the lights come on across the city, very pretty. We then had dinner in the tower at what I would consider a fine dining place, but am unsure of how fine it is by Japanese standards. The view was amazing, the food sensational, but we steered clear of the horse shahimi this time. The featured wine this week was Chandon from the Yarra Valley!! But I opted for a Nagano Chardy... not so great actually. But the cheese plate was surprisingly good.

On a side note, something that has amused me about Japan since we got here is their obsession with cheesecake and parfait. I guess it`s the last thing I expected to be able to indulge in while here. But lordy lordy have we been indulging. And their waffles! To die for. How can a country fail at bread but get waffles so right?

Today we head to Osaka via Nara. HUZZAH!!