For all that we are on holidays, our days are far from just slothing around, eating sushi and drinking plum wine. Ok, that's part of our day, but not the whole day! On Wednesday we joined the hoards of people who checked out the Aoi Matsuri parade. This festival dates back to the 7th century and commemorates the successful prayers of the people for the gods to stop calamitous weather. It was amazing to see the variety and colours of costumes on the approximately 600 people who participated in the parade. It was great to see the different horses participating in the parade too, and the equipment they had on. I didn't realize how much I missed being around horses till I saw them in the parade!
From there we headed out to the silver temple. It was quite the adventure getting there as we originally planned to go to Kuramadera, a temple on a mountain that you reach by cable car, but as this may surprise you, Yosha and I hadn't quite planned out our route so we weren't really sure how to get there. We managed to take some random buses and make our way to the silver temple, a beautiful temple built in 1482. The temple itself didn't totally wow me but the garden in the temple and the view were breathtaking.
After some exploring we managed to make our way to Kuramadera. It was definitely worth the wait! It wasn't nearly as busy as the silver temple. the hike to the top was gorgeous; the path was lined with vermilion lanterns and the path veered its way through the woods so we were constantly in the company of trees. I am thankful that Yosha and I spend a decent amount of time at the gym. Some of these walks have been quite challenging, up and down hills and up more steps than I would ever do on the stair master at the gym! Thankfully the walks help to reduce some of my guilt from the endless sweets, baked goods and mochi!
We stopped at the department store food court on the way home. I grabbed a bento box and Yosha had various yummy sticks of fried meat. Well, almost all yummy. At one point she asks me what kind of meat she had and once my taste buds decided it was liver on a stick they quickly were not happy with the assault!
Yesterday we went to check out a bamboo forest in Arashiyama, at the base of Kyoto's western mountains. The bamboo forest was more of a wide paved path so it didn't quite feel like we were in a bamboo grove after all. On the plus side the area is also home to about 160 snow monkeys. At this park they make it clear not to look at the monkeys in the eyes. On our last monkey park visit we didn't realize that until afterwards when we read a sign. It hadn't really mattered since the monkeys were so quiet and approachable. At this park we definitely felt like we were in the wild. At one point walking up to the rest area where most of the monkeys are, we must have looked a monkey in the eyes because it charged at us. They are small but I'm not messing with them. Have you seen their teeth?! Anyways, we were able to feed them apples through the fence inside an enclosed area, which was a beautiful experience because they would gently grab the apples from our palms. Ok, enough about the monkeys :)
For dinner last night we decided to take a break from the typically Japanese fare and have pizza. I don't know if it was the pizza or if it was sleeping in the dorm and being constantly interrupted but neither of us slept well.
Today has been a pretty slow day. We visited the golden pavilion, originally built in 1397 as a retirement villa. In 1950 it was burned to the ground and in 1955 rebuilt. From there we went to check out another temple, which ended up being the same one we saw the other day on our way to Kuramadera. In our defense there are close to a thousand temples in Kyoto and all of them have names in Japanese followed by English nicknames! At least we knew how to make it back to the bus stop back to Kyoto train station!
We finally got it together and checked out the water temple, which was absolutely worth it! The buildings were gorgeous and the view of the whole city was incredible! We were even interviewed by some junior high students who wanted to practice their English.
On the way back we had an early dinner and caught the sun setting from the Kyoto tower. Such a beautiful view and a great way to end our last full day in Kyoto! Tomorrow morning we are going to check out one last shrine and then head out to Nagoya to meet up with my friend Rheanne, who I haven't seen since last year in Vietnam and before then in Dubai! I feel like a celebrity jet setter going out to party with an old friend in random parts of the world!
From Nagoya we are going to spend a few days in Kanazawa to explore some gardens and samurai and geisha districts. It should be fun! :)
Some photos from the last couple of days.
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| During the parade. I liked the horses the best, even though there were some that were a little too ribby and hippy for my taste |
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| An ox pulling a wagon (he had help) during the parade |
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| One of the gardens in the silver temple |
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| Another part of the garden in the silver temple |
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| The first of many shots of stairs.... |
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| More stairs... |
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| Weeeeeee even more stairs!! take TAKE, stairmaster!! |
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| Yosha in the bamboo grove |
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| Hiding in the Japanese maple |
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| I had these critters eating out of the palm of my hand!! :) |
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| I could have stayed with these guys all day they were hilarious! |
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| Ok last monkey picture...the beautiful city of Kyoto is in the background |
2 comments:
Wow you are right the gardens look amazing! But I see something that looks even more breathtaking then the gardens, you!!! I am glad you're having a great time in Japan! When you get back if you miss climbing all those stairs we can join a step class. Haha
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