The Backpack Adventures

Day 5 December 23, 2019 Exploring Kyoto 3 Good morning from Kyoto City, Japan ! For today's adventure, we are going to shift gears from "Family Mode" to a "Tri-group Mode". The first group consists of my parents and my sister Aya. They plan to have a walking tour around Kyoto Station and also go shopping for souvenirs and Christmas gifts for our relatives in the Philippines.  The second group consists of my wife and daughter. They will be heading to our godfather's house in Kumatori, Osaka where they'd spend a few days. My wife plans to cook some dishes and desserts for our upcoming Christmas Eve dinner with them.  I'm back to  Kyoto Station for the Nth time this year. The  third group  consists of me and my brother Patrick. We plan to visit Fushimi Inari Shrine and hike Mt. Inari . Afterward, we'll try to visit as many shrines and temples that we could for the day.  My brother Patrick posing with the giant torii gate and Romon Gate as his

Kyoto Station serves as Kyoto's main entry point which means it handles roughly thousands of local and foreign tourists per day. However, little do most know that Kyoto Station in itself is a tourist destination.  Kyoto Station Illumination Kyoto Station Illumination Details The station has plenty of restaurants for food trippers, it also has numerous stores for shoppers. For those who love panoramic views, they can head up to Kyoto Station's Observation Deck or the Skywalk on the 10th floor. Kyoto Station Christmas Tree However, for those visiting in the months of November to March, Kyoto Station offers something worth seeing. During these months some areas of Kyoto Station are lit up with magnificent light displays commonly called in Japan as illumination festivals .  Kyoto Station has several illumination attractions in different parts of its vicinity.  Skywalk Illumination Skywalk Illumination First is the Skywalk illumination on the 10th floor of the station. It featur