Still in Kyoto, post 1...

Hi everyone, how:s it going :)
Sorry if I don:t reply to individual comments and posts just yet, I still don't have long on the Internet each time, but I appreciate them and one day will reply properly hopefully :)
I'm glad I can find my way around a computer because I am really depending on my knowledge of keyboard shortcuts using the Internet here :)
Sooo... what's been happening (note that I'm trying to use apostrophes properly now, I guess I'll have to get used to apostrophes being shift-7 on a keyboard...)...
So far my itinerary has been like this:Day 1 - around Kyoto - near my ryokan, Fushimi Inari shrine, Kyoto Station area, ArashiyamaDay 2 - to OsakaDay 3 - to Himeji (Adelaide's sister city in Japan! It has a famous castle, very pretty)Day 4 - around Kyoto (Kinkakuji, Ginkakuji (by accident - darn bus transfers), Heian Jingu, Gion)Day 5 - around Kyoto again (Kiyomizu, Gion and Pontocho, Kamogawa Shrine (only went there for the long bus ride, let me rest my poor aching feet))

My favourite places so far have been Arashiyama (a pretty mountainous place in the west of Kyoto), Dotombori (a lively shopping area in Osaka), Himeji Castle, Kinkakuji (a gold-foil-covered temple), Kiyomizu (a shrine - there's a related shrine nearby where all the young girls go 'cos it's known as a matchmaking shrine :)) and Gion, the famous hanamachi (geisha district).

Before I left home Mum asked if I wanted to bring an umbrella, strongly implying it would be a good idea to do so. I didn't take it - probably a good thing as my luggage weight was very borderline. Now I've bought one and I remembered why I never like umbrellas - Murphy's Law. If you bring it, it doesn't rain, and if you leave it behind, it does. After it bucketed with rain all night and all morning - you needed an umbrella to walk even 5m down the street - I bought an umbrella, only to come outside from the shop and find the rain had stopped, and had stopped for the rest of the day. That night and the next morning it poured again, so I brought my umbrella the next day, only to find that as the train to Himeji continued, the skies cleared up. I mean, that's great, of course, but I never seem to have my umbrella at the right time...

Anyway enough rambling pointlessly about umbrellas... that's a roundabout way of saying it rained for half of two days; the rest of the time has been ii tenki (good weather). I left my ryokan in a tanktop and the proprietress asked if I wouldn't be cold! In Australia, people wring out every last ounce of enjoyment from warm weather. If the weather allows, people will wear as little as possible. Here, people dress seasonally - it's autumn, so wear long tops...

This place is a shopper's paradise; nobody could call me an enthusiastic shopper but even I am having to restrain myself, since I still have to lug my suitcase through a couple more cities. At first I thought everything was expensive but I've found lots of cheaper stuff now, even shoes for $15, $20, $25, which you never find in Australia apart from at Spendless Shoes, which doesn't count (even though I buy most of my shoes there :)).
Anyway this computer is shocking, it keeps freezing, so I'll post this and then try to get another one...