Japan - Kyoto (one)
After two days in Nagoya, we decided to take a day trip to Kyoto. Kyoto preceded Edo (now Tokyo) as the capital of Japan from 794 to 1868; Kyoto now serves a much higher purpose as the location of the world headquarters of Nintendo. Just kidding. ;) We hopped a taxi from Kyoto Station to the Kinkaku-ji, the world-famous Golden Pavilion Temple (so called because the temple is almost entirely covered in gold leaf. It is fairly breathtaking.) From there, on the advice of our taxi driver, we walked to the area near Maruyama Park, where there is a small ward packed with some of most beautifully preserved machiya in all of Japan. Ok...so Kyoto was initially underwhelming, but by the time we left that evening, I'd grown to love it.
I have a million photos from Kyoto and I'm not at all sure what to post. So, there will be one, possibly two, more Kyoto-related posts...
Waiting for a taxi near Kyoto station...our taxi driver was CRAZY! In a good way. lol. He wanted to talk about baseball and to introduce us to some "fine Japanese women". hahahahahaha. So great.
Machiya
Near Maruyama Park
Tristan and Kinkaku-ji.
Ugh...I hate the sky in this photo. :( There was only one day of interesting sky during our ENTIRE trip, lol. Ah, well...
This isn't the original temple, btw. That burned down in 1473. This is one of many recreations (due to arson) on the same site, the most recent occuring in 1955. The temple was erected to serve as the retirement home of Shogun Ahikaga Yoshimitsu but things didn't quite work out as planned. Awwww...if only he'd been more like this Yoshimitsu. ;)
Here's a crappy photo of the 700 Series Shinkansen pulling into the station. I'll take a better photo next time. :(
I have a million photos from Kyoto and I'm not at all sure what to post. So, there will be one, possibly two, more Kyoto-related posts...
Waiting for a taxi near Kyoto station...our taxi driver was CRAZY! In a good way. lol. He wanted to talk about baseball and to introduce us to some "fine Japanese women". hahahahahaha. So great.
Machiya
Near Maruyama Park
Tristan and Kinkaku-ji.
Ugh...I hate the sky in this photo. :( There was only one day of interesting sky during our ENTIRE trip, lol. Ah, well...
This isn't the original temple, btw. That burned down in 1473. This is one of many recreations (due to arson) on the same site, the most recent occuring in 1955. The temple was erected to serve as the retirement home of Shogun Ahikaga Yoshimitsu but things didn't quite work out as planned. Awwww...if only he'd been more like this Yoshimitsu. ;)
Here's a crappy photo of the 700 Series Shinkansen pulling into the station. I'll take a better photo next time. :(