Japan - Kyoto – 20120516

Today is our free day.  I met Roz at breakfast and we spoke with Hiro (our guide) about our planned route.  He made some suggestions which modified the route slightly, but it basically looks good.

We took the hotel shuttle to the train station and a cab from there to the Sanjusangen-do Temple, which is famed for the hundreds of figures of Buddha with “One Hundred” arms.  Pictures were not permitted inside; consequently I only got some pictures of the gardens surrounding the temple.  

Sign with Temple Name

 Sanjusangen-do Temple

Garden Views

Natural Spring for Wahing ritual before entering temple

 Gardens

 Garden

Garden View

Bell that could be rung, but a sign said not to

View of temple compound

view of temple compound

From there we took a cab to the Kiyomizudera Temple.  We were dropped off at the foot of the street which was rather steep.  As we were walking up, we were met by Bill and his wife who had found a store that had Kimonos for My Little Muffin. I found one that I think is pretty AND washable.  I forgot to buy an Obi, which I rectified later.  This temple compound is very high up and it seemed like we were walking stairs forever.  Eventually we reached the top and started down the path back to the street.  The temple area and the streets were filled with children mostly teen agers on their school excursion.  Upon occasion, they will practice their English with you.  They are polite when they do so. 

 Kiyomizudera Temple

Main Entrance to Temple area

Pagoda

 Bottom of Pagoda

View from the high ground - note city in distance and mountains in the far distance

 Climbing up!

 G-ddess of Mercy

Higher level

Main Building from another building

Pagoda from high ground

On the side of the path walking down

 Special spring used for purification

Description

On the path down to the street

Tea House on the way down

 Another tea house - note ladies dressed in Kimonas in the back

 Ladies dressed in kimonas

Once we got back to the street, we ambled looking into the stores of which there were many. We asked directions multiple times because we wanted to go to the Chion-in Temple which was supposed to have some special gardens.  It was after noon and we decided to stop for lunch.  I was lucky in that we had a waiter who could speak English so that I could order just vegetable tempura and not shrimp and vegetable tempura.  As we were leaving, he directed us to a bank where I was able to exchange money at 77 yen to the dollar versus the 73 that the hotel offered.  In addition, when I said that I was from New York, he gave me a business card indicating that the restaurant had a branch in New York on Thompson Street which would probably be in Soho.

We returned to the road that we had been walking on and continued on to the Chion-in Temple.  This temple was a bit of a disappointment, because it has so much construction going on.

View of G-ddess of Mercy from Ryozen Kannon as seen from street

 Entrance to Chion-in Temple

View of gardens

Note Carp swimming

Another statue in garden.  I'm sure it has significance, but since I don't read Japanese, I don't know what it is.

Note gardener trimming tree branch by branch

Garden view

Garden View

 Buildings in garden

By the time we finished wandering around Chion-in Temple, we were tired; so we took a cab to the Kyoto Handicraft Center.  It was a bit of a let-down because they didn’t have the crane that I wanted, but I was able to get the Obi for My Little Muffin and the dragon for Herman.

We headed back to the hotel where I rested for a while.  My knees hurt and my back hurt and I was a mess!  I got dressed and met Roz and we went down to the restaurant for the farewell dinner.  Half the group is going home, because they have elected not to continue on the Hiroshima.  All in all, I’ve been very pleased with the people on the trip.  They have been pleasant and easy to get along with.