Japan: Day 18 continued (Oct . 8, 2008 Wednesday) Kyoto

After a night filled with a symphony of snoring from my three roommates we had an early breakfast of teas with the rolls we bought the night before.



We were out the door by 8:30 AM. While the rest of us slept the night before Art had planned out the bus schedule so he knew which buses and trains we needed to take to see the various World Heritage sights.

We went to four places today:





Ryoanji Temple: Our first impression was that it was lot smaller than it looked in photos. It measures only 25 meters from east to west and ten meters from south to north. This simple, serene and meditative garden was said to have been laid out by Saomi who died in 1525. It holds just 15 rocks and gravel and is my favorite rock garden. Outside the garden were other gardens and we found this interesting lizard as well.







A short ride took us to Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion). It was built in the 1220's. It was breath taking but we also loved this dragonfly AND the green tea-vanilla soft serves. I think we're soft serving ourselves through Japan.



Kyoto Imperial Palace was our next destination. We signed up for a tour to go into the palace grounds. I have no idea why but Japanese citizens are not allowed to go in. We could go because we had our U.S. passports. The palace was quite impressive. We grabbed a quick lunch and gave my mom a breather. She had done way more walking than she was used to.



Our last stop of the day (by subway train this time) was Nijo-jo (Nijo Castle), the official Kyoto residence of the first Tokugawa Shogun, Ieyasu, built between 1603-1626. Kyoto was from 784 the capital of Japan for 1,000 years. The capital was moved to Tokyo in 1869.

At this point my mom was a bit unsteady on her feet and exhausted. The sheer adrenalin of seeing all the beautiful places and trying to explain them to us were the only things that kept her upright.

After a curry and rice, omelet over rice dinner we went to a supermarket to pick up breakfast for tomorrow and some dessert which perked mom right up.

OBSERVATIONS from today:

Great transportation. We loved how this board told us when to expect our bus.

Just as my aunt instructed us, no matter how hot it is, once fall hits all the women wear long sleeves. I think I stick out as a tourist with my short sleeves.

Lots of bike riders on the sidewalks in Kyoto make it quite dangerous for pedestrians. You really have to be careful.

Overweight people are rare.

I loved seeing young people giving up their seats for older people. One young teenager very gallantly gave his seat to my mother and was probably surprised that I thanked him in English. I saw another little middle schooler offering her seat to an older gentleman who smiled and told her to please sit down and not worry about him. There is a lot to love about this country.