Kyoto - Day 2

Well, here we are at Kyoto, day 2. Unfortunately we didn't get a whole lot done on our first day in Kyoto. Originally we were only going to spend one day there, but thankfully one of my friends suggested two days since there are so many things to see there. And she was so right. It seemed like there was a shrine or temple on just about every block. It was a bit ridiculous.

So we woke up an hour later than the morning before and caught one of the express trains (finally! the RIGHT train!) and we got to Kyoto at about the same time, which is really sad. Our first stop was Nijo-jo (or Nijo castle). This castle was built in 1603 and was the used by the first Tokugawa Shogun (Ieyasu). This was an awesome place! Unfortunately we couldn't take pictures inside of the castle because they're trying to preserve the original paintings on the doors and such. So we enter the castle and we have to take our shoes off. When we finally get into the main part of it the wooden floors creaked. They're called nightingale floors, and they were made to creak so that they would know when there was an intruder. It was very interesting. If you ever go to Kyoto, I highly recommend this place. The gardens are beautiful and if you go early enough (like right when it opens) you can beat the major crowds. I definitely forgot that I was in the middle of Kyoto City in those gardens.



Our next stop was back at the Nishijin Textile Center. This time we were going to try our hand at traditional weaving. It was pretty easy, and rather quick, but it was definitely interesting. Afterwards we got to see a kimono fashion show on the same runway that we had been on the day before.



The next stop was Kinkaku-ji, or the Golden Pavilion. Unfortunately we went around noon so it was packed to the gills. But the surrounding area was gorgeous. You could forget that you were in a city in that place, just like the palace gardens. However, there wasn't a whole lot to the place besides the actual golden pavilion.



Then we took a lunch break. Went to a conbini and got ourselves onigiri and then caught a bus out to this river we'd seen the day before to eat our lunch. It was such a nice day! And a whole bunch of young people were out there. There was kind of a peninsula (of concrete) that extended into the river, and a whole bunch of people were eating on it. We chose to sit on the side of the river, but it was nice to see everyone having fun. Somebody was playing the drums, too.



After that we went to a lesser known shrine named Sanjusangendo. I had decided to go there instead of a more well known shrine because they both had beautiful gardens, but this one would be less crowded. And it was. It was very nice. We had almost the whole place to ourselves.



Then we went to another temple called Tojo-ji. This one had a five story pagoda, but it we didn't actually go into the grounds because it was a bit expensive. So we walked around the outside gardens, which were really nice. The buildings were HUGE, though.



Then we went back to Osaka to the youth hostel. Next is our day trip to Nara.