Summer 10: Kyoto Tour

On the 23rd we took a tour Kyoto. We saw a ton of places in one day! 

I'm pretty much just going to show a few pictures from each place. I'm too lazy to mention anything about the significance of any of these places, so I'll just link to the wikipedia articles for each one in case you are interested. Just click on the names of the places to visit the links.

First we visited Nijo Castle.

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but it was really cool. The floors made a chirping/squeaking sound. There are clamps on the underside of the wooden planks so that the floors make this noise. It was for security.

Next we went to Kinkakuji, also known as the Golden Pavilion. It's a very photogenic building!

Our third stop was the Imperial Palace. Our tour group was escorted by police and we were not allowed to lag behind and had to stay with the group. I loved the bright red buildings!

After visiting the Imperial Palace, the first part of our tour was over. We went to the Kyoto handicraft center and ate lunch and looked in the various souvenir shops. I really enjoyed the drink viking (viking is their word for buffet) because I could mix orange juice and sprite. Mmmm! I ended up eating a ton of pasta and pineapple. Fruit is very expensive in Japan so I took advantage of having as much pineapple as I wanted! :)

The second half of our tour began at the Heian Shrine. This was probably my favorite place that I visited in Kyoto (it's a bit hard to pick a favorite though). I just really really really like the bright colors and this place also had a nice garden!

This video isn't the greatest, but it will give you an idea of how the place is laid out.

You can get a fortune on a slip of paper. If it's bad, you tie it up on a tree.

I loved this bridge!

Ooooh, a crane!

Next we visited Sanjusangen-do. I don't have any pictures from the inside, but there were 1001 statues. There's a small picture in the wikipedia article.

This picture is the outside of the building and our tour guide with her "pom-pom" on a stick.

This was near the building with the statues. I liked the colors of course.

Our final destination was Kiyomizudera. It has a cool view of the city. I've heard that it's really popular in the fall because of all the maple trees. I definitely want to go back to Kyoto in the fall.

We arrived back at Kyoto Station after the tour finished. We walked around the station and came across this really really really awesome waterfall. It has all sorts of patterns!!!!

Then we walked to a nearby mall. I played Mario Kart in the arcade. Yay!