Day 5 - Kyoto

Today we slept in a little because it was Sunday, church was not until 10:30.  The church was a bit of a walk away, so we decided to have a coffee and muffin type breakfast.  We settled for good old Starbucks for coffee and found an amazing bakery right next door.  For Bob and I, used to the bakeries of Seoul, this was a real treat. A cinnamon bun almost as good as homemade!   We found the church in time, and enjoyed a Japanese mass.  Actually, by following closely it was possible to match up with the "amen" when it came.  The church sign simply said "Catholic Cathedral" so we never found out what the name might be...

The front of the church.

On the agenda today were two temples, famous for different things.  We hopped on a city bus to take us to the first one - Kinkajuji temple.  http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3908.html

It was a really hot day, but sunny and not so humid.  After my sunburn of yesterday I was playing it "safer" by actually applying sunscreen....and keeping in the shade.  Kinkakuji is the "Golden Pavilion" and is famous because the too two floors are completely covered in gold leaf.

It was really beautiful and the park surrounding it was really beautiful as well.  The actual temple didn't look like real gold in the sunlight - it's so yellow looking.

The temple area is quite large, so we walked around and looked at the sights.

  Of course the maps are all in Japanese.

Like the temple on day 2 there was very little English, so a lot of the looking is just that - looking...and a bit of guessing as well.

One of the things I noticed a lot today, especially at the temples, was the number of people, mostly young, in traditional clothing.  It certainly added to the ambiance for us tourists to have people walking around in traditional dress.

The second stop was the Ryoanji shrine with the famous Zen rock garden.  

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3909.html

Again the map is in Japanese!  (Go figure)

The gardens are beautiful, and very peaceful, despite the number of tourists.  There was a large pond as we entered.  

It was interesting to see the lengths to which trees are "preserved" by being supported.

 This massive tree was supported by a huge tripod of poles.

 Smaller trees were supported as well.

The Zen garden was...well....I guess I don't really get the idea of the garden.  It is 15 stones arranged in 5 shapes on white gravel.  It is said to represent all of nature.  We were not allowed to walk on the gravel, and needed to just sit and observe it from the side.  It was very hot and sunny there.  Perhaps I am not yet enlightened.  Maybe if I could experience the garden by myself without a bunch of other people, and could actually walk around....I guess I need more Zen...

 This is a partial view of the garden...impossible to get the whole thing with so many people around.

As we were taking a break during our walk, a young couple approached us to ask about our map.  We got to talking and discovered we were all Canadian.  Not only that, the young man is a graduate student at Waterloo, and grew up in Calgary. A small world indeed.  

We all hopped on a bus to get back to our starting point. It was even more crowded than I've experienced on a bus in Seoul.  (Though the subway has been that crowded).  The bus fare paying is not as efficient as Seoul, to my mind.  Passengers pay when they get off.  The back door is the entrance, and the front door the exit.  Today the bus was so crowded that people would get off the back, then run to the front to pay....strange...

Meals today were memorable as well.  For lunch we stopped at a little restaurant along the street.  Bob  had noodles with herring, and it had a tempura set.  The prices were very reasonable and the food delicious.

Bob and Ray examine the herring.

  My tempura lunch set.

Dinner was eaten in a small restaurant by the hotel.

 Bob and I shared a Japanese omelette.

 Bob's tempura assortment.

 My tempura with rice.

  Ray ordered Sake.  The glass was square and it sat in a tray.  The sake was poured in till it overflowed into the tray.  The only way to drink it was by slurping...

I finished the evening doing laundry...an idea shared by many others in the hotel.  The room looks like the tenements now with everything drying.  The wait for the dryer was too long...

Tomorrow we are going to a castle...and then on to Osaka.