For Denise’s birthday we headed to Kyoto. Kyoto is about a 3 hour train ride southwest of Yokosuka. We took the bullet train from Yokohama to Kyoto. This was Denise’s first experience on the bullet train and she really enjoyed it. The train cars are spacious, comfortable, and give you plenty of leg room. The train is more comfortable than an airplane and I think it takes less overall time than flying. The train is very fast. The one we rode can get up to 165 mph, but it is the middle of the line for bullet trains.
Kyoto was the capital of Japan from around 800 until 1860 when the capital was moved to Tokyo. Kyoto has a lot of historical influence with lots of famous monuments and Geisha. Denise is obsessed with Geisha. We were chasing after quite a few to get their photographs. I would compare visiting Kyoto with visiting Washington DC. We saw lots of Japanese tourists checking out the same sites as us.
We arrived in Kyoto around 10:00 am on Saturday morning and went to the tourist information center to figure out how to get around the city. We got a day bus pass for 500 yen that made it easy to get to all the sites. The Pasmo card that we use for trains in Yokosuka, Yokohama, and Tokyo area do not work in Kyoto. Kyoto is a big city and the temples, shrines, and other sites are far apart from each other, so the bus made sense. We boarded the bus at Kyoto station and headed to Kinkakuji Temple (Golden Pavilion).
We had great weather in Kyoto. It was sunny and warm and just felt wonderful. The Golden Pavilion got its name because it is a three story building that is totally covered in gold leaf. On top of the temple is a bronze phoenix. The temple is surrounded by a pond, wooded hills, gardens, and great walking paths. The temple grounds were very majestic and provided a great start to our wonderful weekend in Kyoto. It was very peaceful walking along the paths and taking pictures.
After the Golden Pavilion we headed to Ryoanji Temple (Rock Garden). This was about a 20 minute walk down from the Golden Pavilion. This temple had a large pond with a small island near the other side that we eventually made it to. We strolled along the side of the pond to get to the temple. We walked around the pond clockwise, but quickly determined that everyone was coming towards us. It did not matter since the temple was on the other side of the pond. We eventually made it to the temple with the famed rock garden or Zen garden. The rock garden was about 60 feet long and 20 feet wide with seven rocks and carefully combed rocks. We sat there for about 15 minutes, but our Zen must not have been there because I did not get what all the fuss was about. We would not recommend this temple to tourists because there are other Zen gardens at other temples that are better laid out.
After the Ryoanji Temple we headed to Ninna-ji Temple. We walked for about 10-15 minutes before we found this Temple. This temple was part of an old imperial palace, so it had some expansive grounds with a five-story pagoda, cherry blossom trees, palace, huge Zen garden, and lots of walking paths. The palace was cool with some thatched roofs and painted wall panels. The palace grounds were wonderful, but they would have been remarkable when the cherry blossoms come out. The cherry blossoms start coming out the end of March, so we were there too early.
We arrived in Kyoto around 10:00 am on Saturday morning and went to the tourist information center to figure out how to get around the city. We got a day bus pass for 500 yen that made it easy to get to all the sites. The Pasmo card that we use for trains in Yokosuka, Yokohama, and Tokyo area do not work in Kyoto. Kyoto is a big city and the temples, shrines, and other sites are far apart from each other, so the bus made sense. We boarded the bus at Kyoto station and headed to Kinkakuji Temple (Golden Pavilion).
We had great weather in Kyoto. It was sunny and warm and just felt wonderful. The Golden Pavilion got its name because it is a three story building that is totally covered in gold leaf. On top of the temple is a bronze phoenix. The temple is surrounded by a pond, wooded hills, gardens, and great walking paths. The temple grounds were very majestic and provided a great start to our wonderful weekend in Kyoto. It was very peaceful walking along the paths and taking pictures.
After the Golden Pavilion we headed to Ryoanji Temple (Rock Garden). This was about a 20 minute walk down from the Golden Pavilion. This temple had a large pond with a small island near the other side that we eventually made it to. We strolled along the side of the pond to get to the temple. We walked around the pond clockwise, but quickly determined that everyone was coming towards us. It did not matter since the temple was on the other side of the pond. We eventually made it to the temple with the famed rock garden or Zen garden. The rock garden was about 60 feet long and 20 feet wide with seven rocks and carefully combed rocks. We sat there for about 15 minutes, but our Zen must not have been there because I did not get what all the fuss was about. We would not recommend this temple to tourists because there are other Zen gardens at other temples that are better laid out.
After the Ryoanji Temple we headed to Ninna-ji Temple. We walked for about 10-15 minutes before we found this Temple. This temple was part of an old imperial palace, so it had some expansive grounds with a five-story pagoda, cherry blossom trees, palace, huge Zen garden, and lots of walking paths. The palace was cool with some thatched roofs and painted wall panels. The palace grounds were wonderful, but they would have been remarkable when the cherry blossoms come out. The cherry blossoms start coming out the end of March, so we were there too early.
After the Ninna-ji Temple we got back on the bus and headed to the Imperial Palace. The Imperial Palace was just a large park with the emperors palace in the middle and the retired emperors palace on the bottom part of the grounds. The palace is not open to visitors on weekends and can only be seen with a reservation on weekdays. We just walked around the palace grounds for awhile before heading out. It took us awhile to find out hotel, but once we did we found that it was a very nice hotel. The room was quite large with two twin beds.
(Sunday, March 1)
We tried to get going early this morning, but most of the sites don’t open up until around 9 am. We had breakfast at Starbucks which was quite delicious and helped us get through our morning. We had a deadline to get back to Kyoto Station by 2 pm to catch our bullet train ride back to Yokohama. We found out at the station and verified the next day that we could have taken a later train, we would have just had a non-reserved seat. It made Sunday a quick day to see the sites.
We started out the day by going to Sanjusangendo Temple. This was a remarkable temple that my friend Patrick Kern recommended to us. It is the longest wooden structure in the world. They use the outside gravel pit as an archery competition for women to shoot from one end of the temple to the other end. Inside the temple is 1000 Kannons (goddess of mercy) that are about 6 feet tall and just lined up one after another. It was quite a site to see, but unfortunately you were not supposed to take pictures. In the middle was a large Kannon where some monks were having a service. It was interesting to watch them chanting, praying, bowing, etc. We had no idea what was going on, but it was interesting to watch anyways.
After Sanjusangendo Temple we headed to Kiyomizu-dera Temple which is probably the most famous temple in Kyoto that you can easily recognize in pictures. The temple is built along the hillside with a huge wooden structure underneath holding it up. We walked along some old streets of Kyoto to get to the Temple since we got off on the wrong bus stop. Along the way we found some Geisha that were willing to pose for Denise. There was a lot to see in the temple grounds with a three story Pagoda, the temple, views of the city, the love shrine, and the people. It is a very picturesque area with a lot to see. The love shrine was funny because you are supposed to walk with your eyes closed from one love stone to another love stone about 30 feet away and we watched this young Japanese guy walking. He never made it to the other stone, but he did make it to a girl’s hand, so I don’t know if that was his intension or not.
We made it back to the train station with enough time to catch our 2 pm bullet train ride back. There was still a lot to see and do in Kyoto, but we knew that we would be back again when the family got here. We returned to the rain, which was a bummer after the beautiful weather we had in Kyoto.
We made it back to the train station with enough time to catch our 2 pm bullet train ride back. There was still a lot to see and do in Kyoto, but we knew that we would be back again when the family got here. We returned to the rain, which was a bummer after the beautiful weather we had in Kyoto.
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