[Japan Travel]: Kyoto - Day 2 (Ginkakuji, Kiyomizudera, Heian)
For some reason I don't really feel like posting, but I promised, so here we go! (^-^)>
Maybe one of the most beautiful cherry blossom entries ever!!!
What do you think?
This time we decided to go to the famous "Philosopher's Path" near "Ginkakuji" (The Silver Temple), but we also stopped by at Heian Shrine and finally Kiyomizudera at night!
Kyoto Day 2 (April 6th, 2010):
We always started at Kyoto Station as our hotel was a little bit outside of Kyoto (^-^)>
After a long and crowded bus ride we saw THAT and understood that it was TOTALLY WORTH coming (*___*)b
So beautiful!~
I think it took us 30min. to "walk" 10m, because we kept stopping to take photos XD
No wonder that the "Philosopher's Path" is one of the most popular destinations in spring :D
I told you that we took too many photos, but seriously who can resist this beauty, huh? So awesome!!!
I swear it was TOTALLY crowded there!!! It's a wonder that I got some shots with almost no peole in it (*_*)v
Paradise!!! (*_*)
Already on the Ginkakuji West Bridge :D
Lonely rickshaw under cherry blossom tree ;P
And there it is: Ginkakuji!!
Actually it was my first time there, although I've been in Kyoto before. People told me that if I'm tight on time, I should rather go to the "Golden Temple" which I did last time, but in spring (and I guess, autumn) Ginkakuji is really worth a visit as well!!!
Japanese garden: huge sand cone
The gardens and forest around the temple were beautiful, too! <3
You walk up a hill and then you have this awesome view :D
Can you see it? XD
Perfect Picture! <3
Random sign. I want something like this for my entrance, too! ;o;
Back on the Philosopher's path :D
Random, but soooo cute!
Colorful.
(One of the various souvenir shops along the way.)
Next, we went to a really old shrine. I forgot the name, though (^-^'') ...
Loved those trees!!
What a cute idea :)
It was really nice between all those high trees, and quiet as well, because it was off the path :D so not so many tourists!
I see a huge, fat carp!! XD
There was also a small graveyard. So beautiful with all those trees and especially that one huge cherry blossom tree (*__*)v
糸桜だと思います。
Extremely cute sign!! <3
Falling cherry blossoms.
Cat encounter (*___________*)v
Pink carpet (yeah, no red carpet! XD)
Awesome colors!
My friends got tired and didn't want to spend money on any more temples, so we decided to go to Heian Shrine, something they wanted to see as well instead.
Oh well~ ... XD
On our way, we saw this:
German bakery?!?!
Heian Shrine!!! Here we are (yes, we walked the whole way, it was not toooo far and probably better than taking one of thos over-crowded buses ;P)
Haha XD That was too funny and the color combo is nice, too! XD
I decided to go into the garden as well (entrance fee!) while my friends decided to take yet another break (x__X) .....
Was it worth the money? ...
Well, it was nice, although they prepared for a concert at night (where the trees and blossoms would be illuminated, so in most of my photos you can see floodlights being installed and stuff x__X
The garden was still beautiful, of course :)
Just too much ugly stuff in the way most of the time (x__X) ...
The farther you walked, the more beautiful it became :)
Nice colors.
Here you can see that it was actually quite crowded although most photos look kind of peaceful and quiet, right? XD
Left the garden again and ....
Huh? More cherry blossom trees?
No, not really!!! Never saw "omikuji" in pink! XD Nice idea :D
And that's where they sold them :D
WEDDING!!!!
Yah, it seems that I completely turned into a wedding stalker during this vacation! XD
And that's why they were installing all the light in the garden earlier!!
Looks beautiful!! (*_*)v
I went back to my friends who were sleeping/resting in a nearby park and tried to persuade them to go to Kiyomizudera before it'll get dark!!
It took me some time to persuade them, but finally they moved their lazy asses XD
Random shot out of the bus XD (yeah, I have at least my compact camera always where I can grab it within a few seconds! XDDDDD *nerd*)
On our way up to Kiyomizudera I was already worried I wouldn't make it on time (they close at 5pm, I think ...). Soooooo crowded! Woah!!
They're not Japanese. I'm not sure but they were Chinese, I think XD Maybe Korean XD
Such beautiful colors!! I want one of them, too!!! ;o;
I made it on time somehow, paid the expensive entrance fee and had like 20 minutes before they close and people who know Kiyomizudera know that you have to hurry up quite a bit then XD
My friends didn't join me as it was too expensive for them. They decided to take another break x__X ... and go shopping in the souvenir shops close to the entrance of the temple.
I was really angry at myself because this is the SECOND TIME that I entered Kiyomizudera shortly before closing time and I couldn't see everything yet again *headdesk*
Maybe next time then ... *sigh* x__x
Well, it was beautiful with all the cherry blossom trees! :)
And it was not very crowded anymore :)
And yes, I said NOT VERY CROWDED anymore!! XD
It was around 5:30, so the colors of the evening sky were really beautiful!
The girls in the yukata I took a photo of earlier were around me the whole time. They had 2 male photographers (they boyfriends?!) with them and when I saw the beautiful backgrounds they used for their photos (the one above e.g.) I thought that would have been perfect for us, too!!! XD Haha! XD
Almost back down again.
The temple closed right after that only to re-open 30 min. later where you had to buy another ticket in order to get in for the "illumination show".
UWOAH!!!! Luckily my friends were already standing in line x___X
I just went somewhere to get something to eat, then came back. My friends had already bought the tickets by then.
We all ate a little bit and drank something because you can't enter the temple and then start eating/drinking.
Then, we entered and took some photos (aka. trying to find the best settings for our cameras XD) before it would be completely dark XD
Because it was not yet completely dark, it was not so difficult to take photos.
As soon as it was really dark, it was very difficult for me. I tried out difficult settings and took 123425234231 photos. Some of them turned out nice, most didn't, though XD .... ahem~
Anyways, Kiyomizudera at night is really a nice experience and something I'd highly recommend!!! :D
It was extremely crowded, but as Kiyomizudera is quite spacious it was not too bad :3
My new DSLR camera did quite a good job, although I didn't have a tripod and I fail at holding my cam without shaking XD
Thanks to high ISO numbers I got quite interesting shots as well XD
Spacy!
It was so so so beautiful, but I failed to take a good photo! It's almost impossible to get good shots anyways as there are so many different light sources at a time etc. etc. and then without a tripod?? Gnah!!
Unsharp, sorry x_X
I was able to put my cam on a huge stone, so this one turned out quite nice.
We went back to our station and then got food at McDonalds XDDDD where I took this photo <3
Cameras used:
Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5 and Pentax K-x
The Pentax photos seem to be wider as their height is shorter.
And that's it.
Quite a long and image-heavy entry, I know.
Usually I would have split such an entry into 2 entries like I've done before several times.
I don't mind either way, but what about you? Some of you might have a slower internet connection, so this entry would kill your mind, ne? (^-^)'>
Please let me know what you think is better:
Poll Travel entries: split up huge entries poll
Thanks for reading.
Comments are love.
Taking part in the poll is very appreciated!
バイ(*￣◇￣*)ラ(*￣・￣*)ブ(*￣〓￣*)チュッ♪
Maybe one of the most beautiful cherry blossom entries ever!!!
What do you think?
This time we decided to go to the famous "Philosopher's Path" near "Ginkakuji" (The Silver Temple), but we also stopped by at Heian Shrine and finally Kiyomizudera at night!
Kyoto Day 2 (April 6th, 2010):
We always started at Kyoto Station as our hotel was a little bit outside of Kyoto (^-^)>
After a long and crowded bus ride we saw THAT and understood that it was TOTALLY WORTH coming (*___*)b
So beautiful!~
I think it took us 30min. to "walk" 10m, because we kept stopping to take photos XD
No wonder that the "Philosopher's Path" is one of the most popular destinations in spring :D
I told you that we took too many photos, but seriously who can resist this beauty, huh? So awesome!!!
I swear it was TOTALLY crowded there!!! It's a wonder that I got some shots with almost no peole in it (*_*)v
Paradise!!! (*_*)
Already on the Ginkakuji West Bridge :D
Lonely rickshaw under cherry blossom tree ;P
And there it is: Ginkakuji!!
Actually it was my first time there, although I've been in Kyoto before. People told me that if I'm tight on time, I should rather go to the "Golden Temple" which I did last time, but in spring (and I guess, autumn) Ginkakuji is really worth a visit as well!!!
Japanese garden: huge sand cone
The gardens and forest around the temple were beautiful, too! <3
You walk up a hill and then you have this awesome view :D
Can you see it? XD
Perfect Picture! <3
Random sign. I want something like this for my entrance, too! ;o;
Back on the Philosopher's path :D
Random, but soooo cute!
Colorful.
(One of the various souvenir shops along the way.)
Next, we went to a really old shrine. I forgot the name, though (^-^'') ...
Loved those trees!!
What a cute idea :)
It was really nice between all those high trees, and quiet as well, because it was off the path :D so not so many tourists!
I see a huge, fat carp!! XD
There was also a small graveyard. So beautiful with all those trees and especially that one huge cherry blossom tree (*__*)v
糸桜だと思います。
Extremely cute sign!! <3
Falling cherry blossoms.
Cat encounter (*___________*)v
Pink carpet (yeah, no red carpet! XD)
Awesome colors!
My friends got tired and didn't want to spend money on any more temples, so we decided to go to Heian Shrine, something they wanted to see as well instead.
Oh well~ ... XD
On our way, we saw this:
German bakery?!?!
Heian Shrine!!! Here we are (yes, we walked the whole way, it was not toooo far and probably better than taking one of thos over-crowded buses ;P)
Haha XD That was too funny and the color combo is nice, too! XD
I decided to go into the garden as well (entrance fee!) while my friends decided to take yet another break (x__X) .....
Was it worth the money? ...
Well, it was nice, although they prepared for a concert at night (where the trees and blossoms would be illuminated, so in most of my photos you can see floodlights being installed and stuff x__X
The garden was still beautiful, of course :)
Just too much ugly stuff in the way most of the time (x__X) ...
The farther you walked, the more beautiful it became :)
Nice colors.
Here you can see that it was actually quite crowded although most photos look kind of peaceful and quiet, right? XD
Left the garden again and ....
Huh? More cherry blossom trees?
No, not really!!! Never saw "omikuji" in pink! XD Nice idea :D
And that's where they sold them :D
WEDDING!!!!
Yah, it seems that I completely turned into a wedding stalker during this vacation! XD
And that's why they were installing all the light in the garden earlier!!
Looks beautiful!! (*_*)v
I went back to my friends who were sleeping/resting in a nearby park and tried to persuade them to go to Kiyomizudera before it'll get dark!!
It took me some time to persuade them, but finally they moved their lazy asses XD
Random shot out of the bus XD (yeah, I have at least my compact camera always where I can grab it within a few seconds! XDDDDD *nerd*)
On our way up to Kiyomizudera I was already worried I wouldn't make it on time (they close at 5pm, I think ...). Soooooo crowded! Woah!!
They're not Japanese. I'm not sure but they were Chinese, I think XD Maybe Korean XD
Such beautiful colors!! I want one of them, too!!! ;o;
I made it on time somehow, paid the expensive entrance fee and had like 20 minutes before they close and people who know Kiyomizudera know that you have to hurry up quite a bit then XD
My friends didn't join me as it was too expensive for them. They decided to take another break x__X ... and go shopping in the souvenir shops close to the entrance of the temple.
I was really angry at myself because this is the SECOND TIME that I entered Kiyomizudera shortly before closing time and I couldn't see everything yet again *headdesk*
Maybe next time then ... *sigh* x__x
Well, it was beautiful with all the cherry blossom trees! :)
And it was not very crowded anymore :)
And yes, I said NOT VERY CROWDED anymore!! XD
It was around 5:30, so the colors of the evening sky were really beautiful!
The girls in the yukata I took a photo of earlier were around me the whole time. They had 2 male photographers (they boyfriends?!) with them and when I saw the beautiful backgrounds they used for their photos (the one above e.g.) I thought that would have been perfect for us, too!!! XD Haha! XD
Almost back down again.
The temple closed right after that only to re-open 30 min. later where you had to buy another ticket in order to get in for the "illumination show".
UWOAH!!!! Luckily my friends were already standing in line x___X
I just went somewhere to get something to eat, then came back. My friends had already bought the tickets by then.
We all ate a little bit and drank something because you can't enter the temple and then start eating/drinking.
Then, we entered and took some photos (aka. trying to find the best settings for our cameras XD) before it would be completely dark XD
Because it was not yet completely dark, it was not so difficult to take photos.
As soon as it was really dark, it was very difficult for me. I tried out difficult settings and took 123425234231 photos. Some of them turned out nice, most didn't, though XD .... ahem~
Anyways, Kiyomizudera at night is really a nice experience and something I'd highly recommend!!! :D
It was extremely crowded, but as Kiyomizudera is quite spacious it was not too bad :3
My new DSLR camera did quite a good job, although I didn't have a tripod and I fail at holding my cam without shaking XD
Thanks to high ISO numbers I got quite interesting shots as well XD
Spacy!
It was so so so beautiful, but I failed to take a good photo! It's almost impossible to get good shots anyways as there are so many different light sources at a time etc. etc. and then without a tripod?? Gnah!!
Unsharp, sorry x_X
I was able to put my cam on a huge stone, so this one turned out quite nice.
We went back to our station and then got food at McDonalds XDDDD where I took this photo <3
Cameras used:
Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5 and Pentax K-x
The Pentax photos seem to be wider as their height is shorter.
And that's it.
Quite a long and image-heavy entry, I know.
Usually I would have split such an entry into 2 entries like I've done before several times.
I don't mind either way, but what about you? Some of you might have a slower internet connection, so this entry would kill your mind, ne? (^-^)'>
Please let me know what you think is better:
Poll Travel entries: split up huge entries poll
Thanks for reading.
Comments are love.
Taking part in the poll is very appreciated!
バイ(*￣◇￣*)ラ(*￣・￣*)ブ(*￣〓￣*)チュッ♪