kyoto

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Got an early start yesterday. Went to find some temples that we saw the night before but were closed then. Whilst looking we stumbled upon the mausoleum of Toyoromi Hideyoshi. This involved walking up 485 steps (I counted). Although this was mighty hard work, it was well worth it.

On the way back down we saw Imanie-Jinja shrine where kirsty was attacked by a flying screechy bug (probably Mothra).

After this we went to Chishakuin Temple garden. The gardens were immensely pretty and included the most impressive of the days three bells.

Next we visited 2 temples that were right next to each other. The first was called Yogen-In Temple, it was very small but worth seeing. The other one was called Sanjusangendo Temple. The actual temple building was the best one we had been inside of so far. The building is the longest wooden building in Japan. Inside there are 1000, thousand armed Kannon statues. Infront of these are 28 guard statues. All of these were put in the hall to protect the main statues of Kannon, which was eleven feet tall. The statues were made from wood and covered with a layer of gold foil, and crystals were used for there eyes to make them look life like. The whole sight was breathtaking but unfortunately, again, we were not allowed to take any pictures.

After lunch we hired out bikes from the hostel and cycled around Kyoto. Although this was fun it was quite stressful cycling around the city centre, we found it easy going once we decided to cycle along the river. This also allowed us to see some really nice views that we would not have reached on foot.

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Photos

steps
lots of them

gate and steps
thought we had finished but they continued

Comments

[Mike]

Pics
Woo, the pictures look awesome. Lots of steps indeed! I wish we could get beer from vending machines here...