10th August day 4

We got up and out to have breakfast before joining the tour at 9:00. After an okay breakfast, we rendezvous in the lobby and followed Kit into the Kyoto station to catch a bus to our first destination.

Kyoto station is a fairly impressively big place.

This tower outside the station was built for the 64 Olympics.

Our first stop was the Golden Pavilion - Rokuon-Ji Temple. Built by a shogun who died and bequeathed it to the Zen monks who converted it into a temple. The golden tower was burned to the ground and meticulously rebuilt and covered in gold once more, but this time, 24 carrot gold.

Some visitors to the Temple ringing a massive bell (done by swinging that horizontal log at it)

A beautiful pink lotus parked outside the temple gates.

Ash and the temple.

Another view of the temple.

This is Logan, a girl on the tour, big shout out to her parents back home.

 We looked at the Golden Pavilion, then walked through the gardens which were beautifully old and maintained, stone stairs and paths between oaks and maples which shaded the mossy carpet beneath. Waterfalls and ancient bonsai trees, tea rooms and stone seats, we wound our way through snapping countless images that may lose their meaning with time and soon found ourselves by the lily pond that greeted us upon entering.

Beautiful.

We left the temple and waited for a bus to take us to our next stop, Ryōan-ji. This is probably the world's most famous rock garden.

Kit our guide shows us the lay of the land and gives us a little history.

To enter, you had to remove your shoes.

It was overcast but very, very humid.

Sharon contemplating the stone garden.

 The building with it's smooth, cool floors and ornate details was a delight. A lady painted calligraphic prayers in confidant brush script inside visitor's prayer books and from every vantage point, there were garden views showing classic Japanese restraint.

The garden. A quiet(ish) place for some soul searching.

After the garden, we caught a bus back to Kyoto.

A bus trip back to town had the group disbanding for the rest of the day by about 1:00. Time to explore the vast malls and food courts.

One of the covered walkways devoted to food of all kinds. Amazing how many photos we take are one point perspective, busy streets. The Japanese have that market cornered (if you'll excuse the pun).

After we had eaten our fill, we left the shopping arcades and headed for Pontocho, the tiny street running parallel with the river where we spotted two Geisha the night before. The snaps we took last night were dark and blurry so we hoped to spot another going about her duties and to catch a photo op. Alas, like Mt. Fuji, the Geisha were shy about showing but that didn't matter as Pontocho is one of the most photogenic streets I have ever seen.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Lots of young girls dress in Kimonos. Apparently it's become trendy again.

We then walked along the river, hoping to see a Geisha or Maiko, and apprentice Geisha. We saw one in the markets but she disappeared before we could collect our thoughts enough and turn on our cameras.

What looked like three generations of Japanese women dressed traditionally.

Prayers tied to trees along the river bank.

We caught the train back to our rooms, freshened up and headed out to dinner. Sharon and Chris bought chopsticks and we ate in a small restaurant (if you could call it that). We struck one of the rare occasions where our feeble grasp of the language failed us. The waitresses with their equal lack of English and us struggled to place a coherent order and we ended up with more than we intended. It was mostly great food though. For the second time on one day Brad asked for the toilet in his perfectly articulated Japanese but for the first time, came face to face with the traditional Japanese toilet. the dreaded hole in the ground. We ate our fill before heading in for an early night.

~Glenn