(no subject)
This is a quite long post with a TON of pictures - TODAY filled a 1 gig mem card with 300 5-megapixel pictues. So for the courtesy of all I LJ cut it. To those not savy - just click the link below to see the whole post.
Ah - so I had one go at Nijojo Castle (the seat of government for the Tokugawa Shogun) and this time I wouldn't be denied:
Behold - the gate was OPEN:
School group in traditional garb fit right in:
Then you can take a tour of the palace proper. Forgive me, but no photography was allowed. Halls and ceilings only. Apparently the old wall paintings were very sensitive to flash. I never use flash - but whatever - I don't want to get thrown out of a palace:
It really is an amazing thing - its just empty rooms and tatami mats - half the walls slide. No furniture whatsoever. No thrones, no such at all. The business of government was conducted by conversation sitting in an empty room. Everything is about light and quiet - my kind of rule - a ruler can be at peace, and calmly and deeply contemplate matters of state (in opposed to getting 4 hours of sleep a night while fundraising). Case and point - the garden:
Here is the gate to the inner keep. As is the way here, its a wall within a wall.
The inner moat:
Here is a view from that pictured rampart:
Outside all of that is the Flower Garden:
The cherry blossoms are starting to bloom - a huge event in Japan. Tourists follow it up through the country. Which of course is the reason that I can't find a F*CKing hotel room anywhere.
From here I had ambitions to see some more temples and whatnot. Kyoto is absolutely FULL of them - there have to be about 50 - so I set my sights on the two that come most highly recommended. First - Kinkaku-ji.
All this trip is doing is vindicating Katamari Damacy - as the entrance to the temple proves:
And on to Kinkaku-ji (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinkakuji) the Golden Pavilion. I have a few....hundred pictures - but I'll just show you the choice - the Pavillion:
The surrounding temple and rock garden:
Next I wanted to hit Kiyomizu-dera - a temple on stilts on a hill on the totally opposite side of the city. It was getting late - and there is no train anywhere nera Kinkaku-ji (that I could find anyway) - so a 3000yen cab ride across all of Kyoto:
Then up the hill to the Temple:
Fan store:
Now - the temple was huge. The views were spectacular:
Nothing much I can say to improve on that. In case you are wondering - the Dragon is for a Shinto purification ritual - you walk up and wash your hands.
Then a walk home through Gion - but with slightly better pictures this time:
Then my travels found me in an "American" store:
Who the hell would ship a Bob's Big Boy over here? Anyway it was American neon beer signs, toys (mostly from Disney and Pixar movies) 100$ Zippo lighters (whereas in PA, where the factory is, we pay 14$), a jute box and blow pops and other junk food:
And another things - Venisher - wtf. This is like the 4th one of these I've seen here:
Also I passed by a Crepe place - which here is getting a LITTLE out of hand:
And then I got - not exactly lost - but I took a QUITE lengthy walk home by the central palace (which I didn't get to see) and saw some nice lights as a parting gift:
Tomorrow, I move on.
Ah - so I had one go at Nijojo Castle (the seat of government for the Tokugawa Shogun) and this time I wouldn't be denied:
Behold - the gate was OPEN:
School group in traditional garb fit right in:
Then you can take a tour of the palace proper. Forgive me, but no photography was allowed. Halls and ceilings only. Apparently the old wall paintings were very sensitive to flash. I never use flash - but whatever - I don't want to get thrown out of a palace:
It really is an amazing thing - its just empty rooms and tatami mats - half the walls slide. No furniture whatsoever. No thrones, no such at all. The business of government was conducted by conversation sitting in an empty room. Everything is about light and quiet - my kind of rule - a ruler can be at peace, and calmly and deeply contemplate matters of state (in opposed to getting 4 hours of sleep a night while fundraising). Case and point - the garden:
Here is the gate to the inner keep. As is the way here, its a wall within a wall.
The inner moat:
Here is a view from that pictured rampart:
Outside all of that is the Flower Garden:
The cherry blossoms are starting to bloom - a huge event in Japan. Tourists follow it up through the country. Which of course is the reason that I can't find a F*CKing hotel room anywhere.
From here I had ambitions to see some more temples and whatnot. Kyoto is absolutely FULL of them - there have to be about 50 - so I set my sights on the two that come most highly recommended. First - Kinkaku-ji.
All this trip is doing is vindicating Katamari Damacy - as the entrance to the temple proves:
And on to Kinkaku-ji (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinkakuji) the Golden Pavilion. I have a few....hundred pictures - but I'll just show you the choice - the Pavillion:
The surrounding temple and rock garden:
Next I wanted to hit Kiyomizu-dera - a temple on stilts on a hill on the totally opposite side of the city. It was getting late - and there is no train anywhere nera Kinkaku-ji (that I could find anyway) - so a 3000yen cab ride across all of Kyoto:
Then up the hill to the Temple:
Fan store:
Now - the temple was huge. The views were spectacular:
Nothing much I can say to improve on that. In case you are wondering - the Dragon is for a Shinto purification ritual - you walk up and wash your hands.
Then a walk home through Gion - but with slightly better pictures this time:
Then my travels found me in an "American" store:
Who the hell would ship a Bob's Big Boy over here? Anyway it was American neon beer signs, toys (mostly from Disney and Pixar movies) 100$ Zippo lighters (whereas in PA, where the factory is, we pay 14$), a jute box and blow pops and other junk food:
And another things - Venisher - wtf. This is like the 4th one of these I've seen here:
Also I passed by a Crepe place - which here is getting a LITTLE out of hand:
And then I got - not exactly lost - but I took a QUITE lengthy walk home by the central palace (which I didn't get to see) and saw some nice lights as a parting gift:
Tomorrow, I move on.