Kyoto day 2

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Having spent a little bit of time planning last night today went a lot smoother but no less tiring. I invested in a bus pass today having spent a fortune on transport yesterday but that had a lot to do with repeatedly getting lost oops.



Anyway first stop of the day was Nijo Castle, a very old traditional building surrounded by lush gardens, archways and beautiful scenery. Inside the castle I was unfortunately unable to take any photographs as they say it will damage the wall art but then in the same breathe they tell you that the art on the walls are copies and if you want to see the originals you can pay to go in to the museum on site. Convenient. The building was large and quite creaky with perfect wooden flooring throughout i had to take my shoes off and wear some really sexy leather slippers. As i was walking along side each room there were sliding doors and beautiful paintings you could almost imagine a few geisha inside serving tea to some important people back in the days when the castle was used and not just a tourist location.



Next stop Daitokuji temple, now this was a recommendation from a lady i met on the bus yesterday and if i see her again ill tell her she wasted my time. Now don't get me wrong it is a beautiful place however the majority of the site is closed to the public you have to pay to go in to each individual shrine a sum of 400 yen and then they do not allow you to take any photographs in the hope you will spend more money in their well placed gift shops little bit of a con if you ask me i think I'm the only person to ever be annoyed in a zen garden. Oh well i went and it was pretty but not really at the top of my list.



My next stop however was a noteworthy one the Kinkakuji Temple also known as the golden temple. It is only a fairly small site which is quite welcomed after hiking around huge estates and gardens the golden temple sits next to a beautiful green lake and is picture postcard perfect. It really is stunning how the gold shines so brightly and reflects on the water. The site also had some lovely stone pathways leading through to another shrine where i finally managed to find some little keepsakes for my family that i didn't have to remortgage a house for yay. Once i had enough pictures of this area i hopped back on the bus and away i went next stop here i come.



I am so pleased with myself today transport is going well I've arrived at the elusive silver temple that was closed yesterday and I'm well within my time go me.



The silver temple (Ginkakuji temple) was a lot more simple than my previous stop but no less beautiful they also had the stone gardens that had been raked in to patterns like the one i paid for earlier but they wouldn't let me photograph. Expect this one was built in to a huge mound like a mountain in the centre of the stone garden how on earth they make it stay up like that is unknown. I then walked around the gardens took some skyline photographs of the silver roof which you can tell is silver if your paying attention but it is not as striking at the golden temple. Like a said a lot more timid but very pretty. The surrounding woodland here was very photogenic where the ground had a simple green covering probably something quite gross like moss but it almost looked like a blanket for the ground and appeared quite sweet.



I even made it in time to my last site of the day by the skin of my teeth i arrived 10 minutes before they stopped letting in.. phew i had 30 minutes to walk around Sanjusangen temple. Now i was looking forward to this one as it was like japans version of the terracotta warriors a thousand statues of Kannon the goddess of mercy. After paying a 600 yen entrance fee i was once again disappointed that I couldn't not take any photographs now i can understand flashes might damage the colour of things but when they ban photographs just to make you pay for things in their gift shop its a little irritating especially when its not exactly cheap to get in. So i took some pictures from google of the inside to help me remember. I finished just as they were about to close i think my timing today has been pretty dam good and a great improvement on yesterday.



I walked back to the hostel from the last site just a nice slow stroll and then with the help of the staff changed my bus ticket to Mount Fuji because the idea of sleeping on a normal coach for 9 hours wasn't so appealing upgraded to a better bus so i will actually get some sleep its expensive anyway so what's a little more eh.



Tonight I plan on staying the hostel as they are having a tasting for their new menu free food and free beer i suppose i can stick around and help them out with it.

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