July 14, 2010

Here's Yoko and Dr. J, our escorts in Japan. Thank God for them!

We met in the lobby at 9:00am and we were off again! We caught the subway to Nijo Castle........Wow, that was faster than taking the bus!

The entry to Nijo Castle is massive, shows Shogun's power. The architecture and design is beautiful. It's old but beautiful, 407 years old to be exact!

Although it was raining, it didn't seem to bother any of us. The rain seemed to add to the ambience. Sort of like a cleansing.

The grounds of the Nijo Castle were manicured. Like in Confucianism, the plants and trees were immaculately trimmed and shaped to the desired shape.

Throughout the garden you could see signs of wabi sabi, (like the tree log used as a bridge (above); natural beauty in imperfections. Gorgeous!

The Castle Walls are surrounded by a moat. This was to ensure the safety of the Shogun. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take any pictures inside the castle but what stood out for me was the artwork and the secret chambers where the body guards hid to protect the Shogun from his enemies. The stones used to build the walls were huge and I'm not sure if anyone else noticed but the curves on the walls were beautifully accurate. The building engineers were definitely ahead of their time!

We're off again to JR Kyoto Station via the subway. Dr. J wants us to check out the architecture. The "V" shaped architecture is representive of Kyoto which is situated in a valley surrounded by the mountains.

Hey, is that Robbie Sabi?

Check out these stairs! George ran all the way up! Go, Rocky!

There's a first time for everything! We had to buy our lunch tickets using this machine, wait to be seated and then we were served what we ordered through the machine! Wow! Hey, America could learn a lot from the Japanese. Brilliant!

The Ramen was onolicious! The Best Yet!

(So far, my favorite!!!!)

This is when I met a hula sister. I wish I took a picture with her. She was so friendly, I will "add" her as a friend on FB, when I get home.

Done eating, so we're off to Sanjusangendo via taxi. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to take pictures and I can understand why. We have to show respect. This is not just a tourist stop it is a living, breathing Buddhist Temple. There were monks meditating when we were viewing the 1001 Kannon and the 28 Japanese deities. (Were these the deities mentioned in the book "Monkey"?) When I turned the corner upon entering, the life sized statues, covered in Gold leaf, literally, took my breath away!

This is Japan's longest wooden building and the architecture is again, very beautiful!

These grounds were manicured as well.

On the same grounds were these other buildings, I assumed it was where the Monks lived. They are painted orange. I was wondering if there was any significance in this choice of color.

We came across this water fountain outside, so George & I cleansed our hands as we were taught by Dr. J.

Now we're on our way to Kiyomizudera via taxi!

Here's the first thing I see when I get out of the taxi. "Hello Kitty" Hmm, (my thoughts).....are we in a tourist trap?

The streets are lined with small shops, selling their wares, mochi, ice cream, eateries etc. It's an uphill climb....breath...

Here's a view from the top. In the distance you can see the needle which is across from JR Kyoto Station. This city is densely populated.

As we make our way up to the Temple, we look over the edge and see the natural spring below. So we decide to head there and we drink the spring water for long life.

We hiked further up and across the hillside and the view of the Pagoda and the temple just peeks out from the trees. Nice!



Some of us take some time to browse through the shops but we have to get going. Tonight is the Gion Festival. They will be closing the streets and we're going to walk around a bit. So we taxi it back to Karasuma Kyoto Hotel, shower and George & I went out to check out the Festival. We tried the Okonomiyaki, Takoyaki, Yakitori & Kushiyaki, picked up a couple of cold drinks and enjoyed!

Lights out! Early start tomorrow morning! 15,445 steps today, whew!