Kyoto Temples and Shrines

We were both up by about 6:30am and enjoyed our coffee/tea in our new mugs. Breakfast at about 7:30 followed by some diary typing.

The group met in the foyer at 9am for our bus trip to various temples around Kyoto.

Kiyomazu Temple – Buddhist

Here we joined huge crowds to walk to the temple up the hill of many small shops. There were women in kimono who can apparently get free entry to the temple (in fact some of them were western). Some delightfully polite school girls approached us to practise their English. Robyn and I found a fabulous little craft alley where Robyn actually tried on a wrap-around apron, but was not tempted to buy it.

 

 

 

 

Heian Shrine – Shinto

Here we were delighted by two little 3 year old girls all dolled up in their kimonos for some rite of passage at the shrine. The smile that my little koala brought when given to one of the little girls was worth waiting for. At the entrance were a pile of saki barrels to advertise the companies that donate saki for the services. We were approached by an older student to practise English again. Such fun to just have these students approach us. The garden in behind the shrine was beautiful and I was impressed by the long bridge over the pond.

 

 

 

 

Ginkakuji Temple (Silver Pavilion) – Buddhist

Here we ran the gauntlet of another road of shops to the gardens around the temple. Another beautiful garden.

Lunch was at Shozan restaurant. It was a fantastically presented Japanese box meal. Robyn ate my sushumi and I ate her tempura (prawns and sweet potato). The meal included:

1. miso soup with fish ball and seaweed

2. rice and small dishes of greens and radish to add

3. green tea

4. four small bowls of

sushimi

tempura

tofu and bean curd with pork and smoked salmon

potato and other small tastes

In all a beautiful meal! There was a beautiful craft shop attached to this restaurant but unfortunately we did not have time to browse but were rushed off to our next temple to get it in the right light.

Kinkakuji Temple (Gold Pavilion) – Buddhist

It really is covered in gold leaf and shone in the light.

Ryoanji Temple – Buddhist

This temple had a Zen meditation garden with 15 large stones. These are never all in view at one time as 15 is a perfect number and it is not done to actually achieve perfection.

Back at the hotel by about 5pm to sort photos and diaries and recharge batteries (ourselves and our technology). I was able to get wifi in the ground floor lounge of the hotel and to deal with a few emails. I also backed up the photos of the first few days of the trip. 

We met Lynn and Deb and Margaret at 7pm and went for dinner at KYK restaurant. Another delicious but cheap Japanese meal that Robyn and I shared happily.

We then took an escalator ride to level 11 in the station building to the roof top garden and the view over the hotel to the southern part of Kyoto. What a magnificent building with a long series of escalators!

Back to buy ore milk and some postcards on our way to the motel. Then time for a silver tea and sleep at about 9:30pm