I met up with friend S around noon and we ate okonomiyaki for lunch. First okonomiyaki in Japan! We went to a lot of places in the afternoon:
along Kamogawa- cherry blossom trees are in bloom!
Yasaka Shrine: there were lots of food stands along the path. I got to toss a coin and pray here.
Maruyama park: popular spot for hanami (viewing cherry blossoms). lots of beautiful sakura trees! (picture: pond inside of the park)
I can't believe I got to see the Ryozen Kannon! I remember really wanting to go there when I saw the picture in my guide book. It was breathtaking. Especially with the green mountains in the back. FYI I don't know that couple in the picture..
Later we ate cake at a cafe, and around evening time I met up with friend Y who brought me to Kyoto station to look for an electronic dictionary. I didn't buy one because those were too expensive. Then we had tsukemen (a type of noodle kind of like ramen, but eaten like soba) for dinner. First time eating tsukemen! It was really good. The noodle itself was cold, but you dip it in the hot soup and eat it like that.
Later that night, my UC building buddies rang my doorbell and we all went to play pachinko for the first time. I managed to take some pictures before the worker guy told us that photos are forbidden inside the place. It was extremely noisy in the pachinko place. We also played arcade games upstairs of the pachinko place.
Glad I finally got to see some famous spots around Kyoto! X)