KYOTO!
at long long long long last
JAPAN PARTY BEGINS!
fairly photo heavyy. death of dial up. go broadband! (about 25 pictures)
Kyoto was out first port of call. mainly due to PEAK LEAF SEASON!
we stayed at a nice hotel, the aranvert, they give you an umbrella when its rainy, have bikes to rent, are generally lovely, and had a big notice board rated the leaves by percentage. cool!
our first proper day in kyoto i took the boys for a walk up fushimi inari shrine.
all the gates are incredible, and theres some nice sports to stop, and have a break. we did have a drink break near the top and hung with the temple cats. meanwhile old monks flew by us even wearing awkward shoes. I felt SO NOT BUFF!!
next we walked up the road to Tofukuji Temple, we had a look around the buildings, and paid our monies to go on the bridge and look at the leaves. due to the CREDIT CRUNCH it cost close to $8. but i'd have paid more. it was stunning. SO BEAUTIFUL!
spy camming cute girls
incredible leaves!!! the colour was INSANE! i did smuggle some maple leaves through customs. HUSH HUSH!
the most amazing reds oranges and yellows you will ever see!
the next day we did a tour. to be honest. i'm not sure how the boys really felt about a tour. but i think they are pretty good fun and a good way to see & learn lots in a day. our tour took us to nijo castle, golden pavillion, imperial palace, then to handicraft centre where we got fed, and got to make some craft. i love craft. boys humoured me. bless them. they made craft too.
here is pavillion glory!
golden pavillion. its really a stunning building. i know its a replica, which some people were a bit blah about. but i still found it fairly amazing....
they had little old ladies cleaning up the leaves in the gardens. i have decided, come a certain age, its my plan for life...
i love koi, but this is the saddest one i have ever seen.... i should have had something to feed him....
also. golden pavillion gives the classiest entry ticket, its a fairly long strip of paper with lovely black calligraphy and a big red stamp. i feel i could hang it on my wall and say its an ancient japanese verse, and not an admission ticket. ha!
these are the gardens of the imperial palace. we actually got to see a lot more of the palace than i was expecting, and unlike the castle, you could take pictures. hurrah!
pretty painted screen in the imperial palace.
and...............
CHECK MY CRAFT CREATION!!!! this is before it got baked in the oven. now its all shiny and pretty.
the next day we hit up Kiyomizudera Temple
we walked the whole way, i thought things were going to be much further away than they actually were, tricky internet maps..... and since kyoto was our first stop. it was fun to walk about and explore....
near the main big temple is another building where you can climb down stairs in the dark, into buddhas belly. we climbed down, it was actually quite enjoyable, dark but not scary. they take a donation and it goes towards upkeep of the temple and looking after the monks. i hate suggested donations. they could have charged me Y400 and i would have still done it. its buudha's belly. come one.
school girls asked tom and chris some questions about japan, it was cuter than cute!
here's me rocking some bad hair trying to colour coord with nature.
standing high on its stilts~!
almost mexican hey?
we were deciding where to go next and a little old man pointed at kenninji on the map and did a big thumbs up and waved his shopping bag at us, so we headed there.
everywhere i had seen in kyoto so far, had been incredible.
but i had been fairly with it, and hadnt cried or anything like that.
no deep spiritual connection.
kenninji is a zen temple. it got me on a level that others didnt. i cried. i felt something. cheesey and tacky as it may sound, but i really did. i made us stay there longer than the boys probably wanted. i it just found it incredible.
just being there, and sitting there, gave me such a sense of
i hate to say peace and calm
but it was
everything was slowed down and relaxed.
and you got that realisation of
hey, everythings going to be ok.
i loved it.
also. at kenninji i had, the single greatest toilet experience of my life. here is the sink
go there and discover for yourself!
that night we checked out Chionin Temple which they light up over autumn. it was amazing! it rained a little. but it was still lovely!
we went in the main temple as there was a service on, but with lots of kneeling, getting up, getting back down again, it was kinda hard on tom, hes had 2 knee reconstructions in the past 3 years. ouch. so we didnt last the whole thing....
we were a bit soggy and went to a bar for dinner. as a treat, we got a sundae. ooh la la!
in japan, they put cornflakes in sundaes. its actually quite tasty!!
thus concludes KYOTO!
next up is OSAKA!!!
xxxx
JAPAN PARTY BEGINS!
fairly photo heavyy. death of dial up. go broadband! (about 25 pictures)
Kyoto was out first port of call. mainly due to PEAK LEAF SEASON!
we stayed at a nice hotel, the aranvert, they give you an umbrella when its rainy, have bikes to rent, are generally lovely, and had a big notice board rated the leaves by percentage. cool!
our first proper day in kyoto i took the boys for a walk up fushimi inari shrine.
all the gates are incredible, and theres some nice sports to stop, and have a break. we did have a drink break near the top and hung with the temple cats. meanwhile old monks flew by us even wearing awkward shoes. I felt SO NOT BUFF!!
next we walked up the road to Tofukuji Temple, we had a look around the buildings, and paid our monies to go on the bridge and look at the leaves. due to the CREDIT CRUNCH it cost close to $8. but i'd have paid more. it was stunning. SO BEAUTIFUL!
spy camming cute girls
incredible leaves!!! the colour was INSANE! i did smuggle some maple leaves through customs. HUSH HUSH!
the most amazing reds oranges and yellows you will ever see!
the next day we did a tour. to be honest. i'm not sure how the boys really felt about a tour. but i think they are pretty good fun and a good way to see & learn lots in a day. our tour took us to nijo castle, golden pavillion, imperial palace, then to handicraft centre where we got fed, and got to make some craft. i love craft. boys humoured me. bless them. they made craft too.
here is pavillion glory!
golden pavillion. its really a stunning building. i know its a replica, which some people were a bit blah about. but i still found it fairly amazing....
they had little old ladies cleaning up the leaves in the gardens. i have decided, come a certain age, its my plan for life...
i love koi, but this is the saddest one i have ever seen.... i should have had something to feed him....
also. golden pavillion gives the classiest entry ticket, its a fairly long strip of paper with lovely black calligraphy and a big red stamp. i feel i could hang it on my wall and say its an ancient japanese verse, and not an admission ticket. ha!
these are the gardens of the imperial palace. we actually got to see a lot more of the palace than i was expecting, and unlike the castle, you could take pictures. hurrah!
pretty painted screen in the imperial palace.
and...............
CHECK MY CRAFT CREATION!!!! this is before it got baked in the oven. now its all shiny and pretty.
the next day we hit up Kiyomizudera Temple
we walked the whole way, i thought things were going to be much further away than they actually were, tricky internet maps..... and since kyoto was our first stop. it was fun to walk about and explore....
near the main big temple is another building where you can climb down stairs in the dark, into buddhas belly. we climbed down, it was actually quite enjoyable, dark but not scary. they take a donation and it goes towards upkeep of the temple and looking after the monks. i hate suggested donations. they could have charged me Y400 and i would have still done it. its buudha's belly. come one.
school girls asked tom and chris some questions about japan, it was cuter than cute!
here's me rocking some bad hair trying to colour coord with nature.
standing high on its stilts~!
almost mexican hey?
we were deciding where to go next and a little old man pointed at kenninji on the map and did a big thumbs up and waved his shopping bag at us, so we headed there.
everywhere i had seen in kyoto so far, had been incredible.
but i had been fairly with it, and hadnt cried or anything like that.
no deep spiritual connection.
kenninji is a zen temple. it got me on a level that others didnt. i cried. i felt something. cheesey and tacky as it may sound, but i really did. i made us stay there longer than the boys probably wanted. i it just found it incredible.
just being there, and sitting there, gave me such a sense of
i hate to say peace and calm
but it was
everything was slowed down and relaxed.
and you got that realisation of
hey, everythings going to be ok.
i loved it.
also. at kenninji i had, the single greatest toilet experience of my life. here is the sink
go there and discover for yourself!
that night we checked out Chionin Temple which they light up over autumn. it was amazing! it rained a little. but it was still lovely!
we went in the main temple as there was a service on, but with lots of kneeling, getting up, getting back down again, it was kinda hard on tom, hes had 2 knee reconstructions in the past 3 years. ouch. so we didnt last the whole thing....
we were a bit soggy and went to a bar for dinner. as a treat, we got a sundae. ooh la la!
in japan, they put cornflakes in sundaes. its actually quite tasty!!
thus concludes KYOTO!
next up is OSAKA!!!
xxxx