Kyoto

Memorial Day Weekend was a special time for my friend Marcia and me. We had the wonderful opportunity to leave Okinawa for the weekend and visit the old capitol of Japan... Kyoto. This was a last hoorah for Marcia and me as she is moving this summer, but we are not going to talk about that right now...

We arrived in Kyoto by dinner time on Saturday. After getting settled in our hotel we braved the rain and started to explore. We were pretty adventurous and stumbled into this great little Yakitori (chicken on a stick) restaurant. We ate everything from chicken bone (not good) to chicken tail (AMAZINGLY GOOD!!!) Here we are with the proprietor of this fine establishment...


The next morning we opted to take a guided tour offered through the hotel. Our guide's name was Yoshi-san. He was not a patient man and nearly left us at our first stop... Nijo Castle. Nijo Castle was a famous samurai castle. It is featured in many "Shogun" type movies. We wished we had longer here as the gardens were beautiful. Here is a picture of one of the many roof tops... so pretty....


Next stop was Ryoanji Temple. This is famous for it's Zen Rock Garden. Apparently you have achieved inner peace if you can find all 15 rocks when sitting in one place... I have not achieved inner peace...


Marcia getting her Zen on...


Next we went on to one of the most famous temples in Kyoto, The Golden Temple. This was simply amazing, words cannot describe... See for yourself....





The tour ended at the Kyoto handicraft center where we could do some great shopping!!! After a wonderful lunch we headed off to anther cool temple. We were just wandering around taking it all in when Marcia nearly knocked me off my feet. When I turned to see what she was so excited about, I saw this....


Somehow, we convinced this sweet Geisha to take her picture with us!!!!


We hiked and hiked and hiked that day and saw so many amazing sites that I will be here all night posting pictures. I will just post a couple of my favorites...
Philosopher's Walk...


Funny Window display:)


The next morning we got up and did our own self guided tour. We took the train down one stop to Inari where we visited a shrine that boasts over 10,000 bright orange Tori Gates. We did not count all the gates, but I am going to take their word for it that there are indeed 10,000 gates:) Business owners put them up for good luck. This was BEYOND COOL!!!




Next we headed over to Kiyomizu Shrine. This was a really neat place where drinking the water brings good luck and peace. We even got to walk through a goddess' womb... weird...



After this we went to the Silver Temple which was under renovation, but the gardens were amazing...


We ended our day with the best massages we have ever had and a delicious dinner at a Sushi Go Round!!! My favorite. Our flight did not leave the next day until 8pm, so we decided to spend the day at Universal Studios in Osaka, Japan. We had SO much fun. Unfortunately my camer broke, so I do not have any digital pictures. Suffice to say we had a great time. I think the best part was riding Shinkensen from Kyoto to Osaka!!!! What a trip! That train really does go wicked fast!!!!
This was such a wonderful trip with a wonderful friend. I am so thankful we had this opportunity to go before she moved... Thanks for indulging me with all my photos!!!

Pin It