2nd day in Kyoto: Northwest + Arashiyama
2nd day in Kyoto we visited the Northwest of Kyoto.
Morning: We were going to visit Kinkaku-ji, Ryoan-ji, Ninna-ji
Afternoon: We were going to Arashiyama for Tenryuji Temple and the Kyoto J-shop.
We got up little bit more late because we didn't had to take a shinkansen. We took the bus to go to the Northwest of Kyoto ^_^ It was a cloudy day, but it was still so hot...
Kinkaku-ji 「金閣寺」
Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion. You only can visit the garden, but the main point is the pavilion and its reflection on the lake ^_^
Kinkaku-ji was originally built in 1397 to serve as a retirement villa for Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. Then, it was converted into a Zen temple, but it was burned down ^^; This pavilion is where the relics of Buddha are kept.
We visited around the gardens, it was our first Japanese garden and it was nice, but the others ones we saw later, were more awesome xP
We found these estatues of small divinities with a bowl in front, it seems that if you can hit a coin inside, you will have luck, or something of that nature ^^;
After this, we saw this kanji 大 on the mountain, this was for the Daimonji 大文字 matsuri. ^^ We were looking forward to our first matsuri in Kyoto!
Ryoan-ji Temple 「龍安寺」
It's a Zen temple, this temple is one of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was my first time to see a zen rock garden ^_^
The garden consists of harmoniously raked white sand with 15 boulders. The boulders have been distributed in a way that it is not possible to see the 15 stones at the same time, from the position of the observer.
The other main point of the temple is the tsukubai, a small basin provided in Japanese Buddhist temples for visitors to purify themselves by the ritual washing of hands and rinsing of the mouth. The meaning of the phrase carved into the top of the tsukubai is: "what one has is all one needs" and is meant to reinforce the basic anti-materialistic teachings of Buddhism.
Outside, there is a large garden with a lake ^_^ Since it was summer, it was full of waterlilies ^_^
Ninna-ji 「仁和寺」
This is a Buddhist temple, and it's also part of the UNESCO World Heritage. In 1467, the temple was destroyed by fire and fighting in the Ōnin War. It was rebuilt roughly 150 year later. What we can see now is the result of this reconstruction.
★ Lunch time
After these 3 temples, it was becoming late... We were with our rutine to eat lunch at 2~3pm ^^; So, the japanese restaurants were always empty xD
We went to the first restaurant we saw, but the menu list was in japanese! Full of kanjis.. and we were not used to it... I ordered something called 「月見」, I followed my friend advice, who knew Kanji ^^ 「月見」 is noddles with an egg, served in a hot soup, those kanjis mean moon viewing. Btw, after the lunch, when we were outside the restaurant, we saw that there was an english menu outside ^^;
Arashiyama 「嵐山」
After lunch, we went to spend our afternoon in Arashiyama, a district on the western outskirts of Kyoto. We didn't go there only because of the name xD
★ It was a nice place with a big river. Arashiyama must be particularly beautiful during the cherry blossom and autumn leaf seasons T___T I want to go again there...
★ Tenryū-ji 「天龍寺」,the most important Zen Temple in Kyoto. I saw some autumn leaves ^___^
★ There was a Johnny shop, they were going to close soon, so we had to rush to decide which photos we wanted to buy. The walls of the j-shop are full of mini-photos with a number. You grab a paper and you mark the photos you want. Easy ne! There was a small wall with the Arashi photos ^^; Anyway, it was difficult to decide... But when you're deciding the photos, it's really exciting!!! ^_____^
Back to home
★ Melon Fanta ~ Vending machines
After that, the j-shop closed and it was still earlier... so we went around the streets, and we saw a small festival and nice shops. Since we had time, it was our time to start to become dork xD There was a vending machine with some Fanta flavours that we don't have here, so we tasted the Melon Fanta!! This was filmed, I think we have watched too much Shukudai-kun xD
★ Kyoto station and Kyoto tower
Back to Kyoto, we saw the Kyoto station at night. We went to the top side, there were a lot of stairs!! This station is really awesome :) We could see a good view of Kyoto at night, and in front of us, there was the Kyoto Tower.
★ Ryokan
If I remember well, that night we went to dinner a kind sandwich in a restaurant, and after that, to home. Ryokans are really nice, really... Our okami-san was so nice with us, it was really like a "home". This is the big difference from a hotel.
We could exchange "ただいま ~ おかえりなさい" with her ^_^ It was like to tell her: "I'm home" and she replied "Welcome home".
Ah, and we slept on a futon for first time, it was so comfortable ^_^
◇ Next day, Nara ^^
P.S. This time I posted more photos, hope the format of the post is ok
Morning: We were going to visit Kinkaku-ji, Ryoan-ji, Ninna-ji
Afternoon: We were going to Arashiyama for Tenryuji Temple and the Kyoto J-shop.
We got up little bit more late because we didn't had to take a shinkansen. We took the bus to go to the Northwest of Kyoto ^_^ It was a cloudy day, but it was still so hot...
Kinkaku-ji 「金閣寺」
Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion. You only can visit the garden, but the main point is the pavilion and its reflection on the lake ^_^
Kinkaku-ji was originally built in 1397 to serve as a retirement villa for Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. Then, it was converted into a Zen temple, but it was burned down ^^; This pavilion is where the relics of Buddha are kept.
We visited around the gardens, it was our first Japanese garden and it was nice, but the others ones we saw later, were more awesome xP
We found these estatues of small divinities with a bowl in front, it seems that if you can hit a coin inside, you will have luck, or something of that nature ^^;
After this, we saw this kanji 大 on the mountain, this was for the Daimonji 大文字 matsuri. ^^ We were looking forward to our first matsuri in Kyoto!
Ryoan-ji Temple 「龍安寺」
It's a Zen temple, this temple is one of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was my first time to see a zen rock garden ^_^
The garden consists of harmoniously raked white sand with 15 boulders. The boulders have been distributed in a way that it is not possible to see the 15 stones at the same time, from the position of the observer.
The other main point of the temple is the tsukubai, a small basin provided in Japanese Buddhist temples for visitors to purify themselves by the ritual washing of hands and rinsing of the mouth. The meaning of the phrase carved into the top of the tsukubai is: "what one has is all one needs" and is meant to reinforce the basic anti-materialistic teachings of Buddhism.
Outside, there is a large garden with a lake ^_^ Since it was summer, it was full of waterlilies ^_^
Ninna-ji 「仁和寺」
This is a Buddhist temple, and it's also part of the UNESCO World Heritage. In 1467, the temple was destroyed by fire and fighting in the Ōnin War. It was rebuilt roughly 150 year later. What we can see now is the result of this reconstruction.
★ Lunch time
After these 3 temples, it was becoming late... We were with our rutine to eat lunch at 2~3pm ^^; So, the japanese restaurants were always empty xD
We went to the first restaurant we saw, but the menu list was in japanese! Full of kanjis.. and we were not used to it... I ordered something called 「月見」, I followed my friend advice, who knew Kanji ^^ 「月見」 is noddles with an egg, served in a hot soup, those kanjis mean moon viewing. Btw, after the lunch, when we were outside the restaurant, we saw that there was an english menu outside ^^;
Arashiyama 「嵐山」
After lunch, we went to spend our afternoon in Arashiyama, a district on the western outskirts of Kyoto. We didn't go there only because of the name xD
★ It was a nice place with a big river. Arashiyama must be particularly beautiful during the cherry blossom and autumn leaf seasons T___T I want to go again there...
★ Tenryū-ji 「天龍寺」,the most important Zen Temple in Kyoto. I saw some autumn leaves ^___^
★ There was a Johnny shop, they were going to close soon, so we had to rush to decide which photos we wanted to buy. The walls of the j-shop are full of mini-photos with a number. You grab a paper and you mark the photos you want. Easy ne! There was a small wall with the Arashi photos ^^; Anyway, it was difficult to decide... But when you're deciding the photos, it's really exciting!!! ^_____^
Back to home
★ Melon Fanta ~ Vending machines
After that, the j-shop closed and it was still earlier... so we went around the streets, and we saw a small festival and nice shops. Since we had time, it was our time to start to become dork xD There was a vending machine with some Fanta flavours that we don't have here, so we tasted the Melon Fanta!! This was filmed, I think we have watched too much Shukudai-kun xD
★ Kyoto station and Kyoto tower
Back to Kyoto, we saw the Kyoto station at night. We went to the top side, there were a lot of stairs!! This station is really awesome :) We could see a good view of Kyoto at night, and in front of us, there was the Kyoto Tower.
★ Ryokan
If I remember well, that night we went to dinner a kind sandwich in a restaurant, and after that, to home. Ryokans are really nice, really... Our okami-san was so nice with us, it was really like a "home". This is the big difference from a hotel.
We could exchange "ただいま ~ おかえりなさい" with her ^_^ It was like to tell her: "I'm home" and she replied "Welcome home".
Ah, and we slept on a futon for first time, it was so comfortable ^_^
◇ Next day, Nara ^^
P.S. This time I posted more photos, hope the format of the post is ok