This year for spring break instead of being stuck in the Navy Lodge, we took a mini-vacation. We went for 4 days/3 nights to Kyoto/Hiroshima/Miyajima Island. We started off on Sunday, April 5th bound on a train for Shinagawa station. Our mission the Shinkansen bullet train. We were travelling to Kyoto which was about a 2-hour ride from Shinagawa station. We were going to spend 2 days touring the city of Kyoto first. Kyoto is a very popular tourist spot in Japan and it was the height of cherry blossom season. The weather was perfect and beautiful. It was in the high 60's to low 70's and sunny every day.
The bullet train was luxurious. It travels at 300kmh or 186 mph on a dedicated railway. It looks like the inside of an airplane but with way more leg room. The seats are comfy and recline. Their are outlet strips and each row to recharge your laptop, cellphones and iPods. It is really the way to travel. You barely feel like you are moving.
After getting off the bullet train and arriving in Kyoto, we quickly checked into our hotel the Rhiga Royal Hotel and off to our first destination. The Fushimi Inari Shrine. It is a peaceful park like setting with 10,000 small torii gates. It is a Shinto shrine dedicated to Inari, the god of rice, sake and prosperity. We had fun going through them. We walked for about an hour and thought we had made it to the top, come to find out we only made it a little over 1/3 of the way. The kids were done. They were hungry and wanted to be done and on to the next adventure. After all, the torii gates all looked the same.
When you go back, you see the Kanji written on the backside of the torii gates...
Next, we were off to the Toji Temple. It was first erected in 794 as a guardian temple of Kyoto. It is a five-storied pagoda. It is the highest pagoda in Japan, measuring 187 feet. The pagoda burned down four times after being struck by lightning. The present pagoda was rebuilt in 1644.
Back to the hotel for dinner, sleep and prepare for another day of sightseeing. 
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