Kyoto One Day Trip

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Weekend of Apr 18 we took a tour with the outdoor recreation on base to Kyoto. Kyoto was previously Japan's capital and is now it's 7th largest city. We met the bus at 4am which was interesting since we had only 2 hours of sleep that night after going out with our great neighbors but thank goodness it was a 6 hour drive to Kyoto so caught up on some much needed sleep. I do have to tell you guys that along the way Japan has the most awesome truck stops. The bathrooms have warmers for the seats, flushing music to mask any unwanted noises :-), and bidets. Not only are the bathrooms amazing but it is like walking into a mall at a truck stop with all kinds of restaurants and shops. We should plan a trip along Japan and stop at all the truck stops that is how much I love them :-)

We arrived in Kyoto at about 10am and stopped at the first temple called Kiyomizu-Dera. This temple was so packed that the bus actually dropped us off on the side of the road and we walked the rest of the way so we could get our full 2 hours at this temple. The walk was nice though because along the way was small streets full of shops and restaurants. As soon as you walk up the stairs to this temple you are in just complete amazement of the entrance with it's structures. Each temple has there halls in which people will take off their shoes, make a small donation, and pray. From the main hall the view of mountain in which the temple sits is just amazing and you also get an amazing view of Kyoto. The walk around this temple is like most where you have gardens, statues, smaller halls & shrines but each one is just so breathtaking. You can visit every temple and shrine in Japan and not get bored because each one is just so unique.

The 2nd temple we visited Kennin - Ji is the oldest zen temple in Kyoto. The word Zen was perfect for this temple because unlike the first one it was just so serene and peaceful. Also alot less crowded so you could really just sit down and enjoy the atmosphere. This temple consisted of rooms in which it had the bamboo flooring and artwork inside of the halls. They had slippers that you would put on so that you could walk through the garden. Back in the states I just loved bamboo and to see all this bamboo around me is just so exciting to me. Around the temple there were seats in which you could just sit down and take it all in. At this temple and the first one you would find people just sitting down drawing the beautiful surroundings. The painting of the Twin Dragons was on the ceiling of the main hall with an alter of the Buddhist priests. As soon as you walk in and see the Twin Dragons above the alter you just sigh at the pure beauty of this sight! You can try to put this in words but to actually see it there are no words to describe some of the artwork and Buddhas that we seen on this trip.

The 3rd temple we visited was To-Ji Temple which consists of the five-story pagoda being the highest pagoda in Japan. It is closed to the public except for special ceremonies but just to be standing next to and see the architecture was enough for us. Even though we couldn't go inside the pagoda their other halls were open and I truly cannot describe the amazing buddha statues they had at this temple. Each hall and museum had tons of statues that just truly took your breath away. Unfortunately we couldn't take pictures inside of the halls with the buddha statues so more reason for a trip to Japan! :-)

The 4th tour of the visit was to a shrine called Heian Jingu. Shinto is practiced at shrines and Buddhism is practiced at temples. These are the two main worships practiced in Japan. Below I will add a link that explains how you can decipher the two when visiting that I found. Unfortunately the tour guide was trying to explain these things to us but we were just so excited to just go visit each one that honestly did not pay attention as much as we should have. Well anyway this shrine I have to say has one of the most amazing gardens I have ever seen! We took so many pictures around the pond of this garden that I had to just start deleting some. This shrine also has a wedding hall but unfortunately since we got their at the end of the day we missed the wedding but hope to go back and catch one going on.

Along the way between the temples and shrine as you all know we had to indulge in great food and treats. I had to of course get in my green tea ice cream and Anthony had to get in double intakes of ramen :-) The tour guide did tell us on the way to Kyoto that in this region there is a difference in the broth of the ramen and has less sodium. Well whatever they put in their broth definitely had me and Anthony in pure contentment without any conversation during our meal because we were too busy savoring our food! We also found the pure bliss of green tea chocolate. The older lady at the gift shop kept giving us samples because I believe she was getting enjoyment of watching how much we loved this new experiment in chocolate LOL Sweets is not even something that we care for but OMG!!

Kyoto is definitely a place that we are already planning a longer weekend so that we can go back and take in more of that city. It still has so much history even down to the wooden houses along the river but then right behind them you can see how metropolitan kicked in with newer buildings right behind it. We will definitely be back soon!

Check out this site to read more about differences between temples and shrines: http://www.nihonsun.com/2008/11/14/temple-or-shrine-whats-the-difference/

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