Kyoto continued

Okay,
So while I'm waiting for my muffin to finish cooking, I thought I would try and get a little more down on Kyoto before I forget anymore.
So let's see... Wednesday we headed down to Toooooooo-ji temple/shrine to check out a ginormous fleeeeee market that was happening that day. It was pretty cool- there were a ton of booths selling anything from boxes of tiny tiny baby fish and prawns by the gram/bag, fruit stands, takoyaki (octopus balls), to kind of antiquey shops selling old sword tsubas, kimonos, pottery, junk, flowers.... anyway, I didn't see anything I liked enough to buy and then hall around Kyoto, so we just browsed. Oh wait! I lied, I got a bag of pine nuts for 5oo yen, or about $5 and made an enourmous batch of pesto I put in my freezer (it's a little weak- the basil I used had already gone to seed) and still have 3/4 a bag left. So Tooooooo-ji is famous for its pagoda- the tallest one in Japan I read. We didn't get to look around the temple much- just the market.
Then we walked (~35 min) down to Fushimi-Inari Shrine, which was my favorite place we saw in Kyoto. It was originally built to the Kami of Harvest- which is a fox- but now I think it's used more for wealth or prosperity. At any rate, the place is completely covered in bright bright orange tori gates. Inari is a big complex- there are shrines and cemetaries scattered all over the side of a mountain, and they are all connected by paths through the woods, and awash in gates. I lost Tobi and Mac somewhere on the grounds, and just hiked around the woods on the paths for a few hours, and it was one of the most serene and beautiful places I've been. At one point, I got away from the tori gates, and into the woods, and there would be times where there was bamboo forest on my right, and big cedar forests on my left. I even saw a snake!! He got away before I could get my camera out though. But I hiked up the mountain and had a great view of Kyoto spread out under the mountain, and had a hilarious time trying to ask some Japanese who were repainting tori gates if they'd seen Mac. But instead of asking if they'd seen an American, I forgot to make it a question, and instead said "I/you/anyone sees a/many American." We all found it rather funny I think.
So then we all found each other at the base of the temple complex, and caught the next train north. We wanted to go to Sanjusangendo, but getting lost and separated at the temple took more time than we had allotted to Inari, so we skipped 33-gendo, and went to Kiyomizu Temple instead, and got there just before closing. It had a beautiful view off the side of a mountain, and had another enormous temple complex, but we didn't have enough time to really explore it well. It was packed with tourists.
I'll add more later, I get restless writing all this out and must take a break.
Allison