Everyone woke up at 5:00 AM so the group could leave the Kyoto Granbell Hotel at 5:30.
Before the hike, the group stopped at FamilyMart and picked up rice balls, and of course coffee for Ashley and Zach.
Fushimi Inari started at 6:00 AM and the loop was finished in an hour. The schedule had looked tight before the e-bike tour, but the group crushed it.
The gates at Fushimi Inari were one of Sarah's trip highlights, along with a separate, quieter zen garden stop. Range matters.
From the hike to the e-bike spot, the route involved two trains and then a bus going the wrong direction. Everyone got off, switched to a taxi, and still made it on time.
The e-bike guide was helpful, and also a tad cringy in that tour-guide way where enthusiasm clearly gets issued a helmet.
On the e-bike tour, the power settings were in Japanese. The highest setting had a character that looked like a volcano, so it became volcano mode. It became shorthand for sending it. Sarah also almost ran into a pole, which felt like Kyoto making sure the e-bike chapter had range.
A different temple stop was Genko-an. The room looked like pure Kyoto calm: tatami, garden views, the round Window of Enlightenment, and the square Window of Confusion. Then the ceiling added the plot twist. Its boards came from Fushimi Castle, where Torii Mototada's defenders died during the 1600 siege before Sekigahara. Scholars estimate about 380 men died on the floorboards later installed in Kyoto temples as memorial ceilings. Calm room, extremely not-calm ceiling.
After the e-bike tour, lunch was at Nabura, recommended by the guide. It was phenomenal: ramen and fried chicken, with ramen as the clear highlight.
The group also stopped at Nintendo Store Kyoto, because Mario apparently needed to make the itinerary.
That night, Nick took the group to dinner for chicken skins, including chicken with cheese on skewers. It was a Sarah highlight, not the best meal of the trip, but still strong evidence in favor of cheese-based diplomacy. Then came karaoke.
