A Curious Day in Kyoto

Okay, so my previous statement that I would post 'tomorrow' should have read 'in many days'. Sorry.

Where were we? hmmm...So day 2 started bright and early (I didn't sleep too well at the hostel due to my cough...I think I kept half the dorm up too...heeheeheeooops!). After avoiding the strange girl who slapped on her moisturizer and noisily packed her bag (Steph, I was just waiting for her to do some exercises or pull out a huge bag of marshmallows) we grabbed a convenience store breakfast we jumped on a bus to Tofuku-ji, one of Kyoto's most famous autumn leaves-gazing spots. The weird thing was this was actually our second time visiting this temple...In August when we were with Becky, we stumbled upon Tofuku-ji after our Maiko experience. We got to see the zen garden after a woman gave us the code to the security gate and then I got yelled at by a monk and we were kicked out.






This time we arrived by way of a bridge that gave us an amazing view of a valley full of red maples and the temple itself. It was AMAZING!! I was just blown away! After taking lots of photos on this bridge we walked down the road and into the temple. It did not disappoint. The view from the temple was breath-taking and our walk through the gardens was fabulous. Even though only 8:30am it was already busy with Japanese tourists (we were once again the only foreigners)(I can't imagine what it was like later in the day) but it was great to see everyone so enthralled by the leaves.







[Laura's serious photo-taking face]


[I look a little crazed, don't I? Maybe it is all the pretty leaves..there was a picture before this in which Elspeth said I looked like I was on crack]

After exiting the maple forest area we walked around the temple grounds, checked out the largest Buddhist gate or something (darn, I can't remember) and then decided to head on over to our next stop, Eikando. We took a bus to Gion and then decided we could walk for a bit. We ended up stumbling upon a really beautiful park, where we saw an adorable tour group posing for pictures and where Elspeth fell in love with a tree.




We popped out of the park beside another temple and with one look at the front gate/stairs combo we both exclaimed that we weren't going there (I had flashbacks of inside the Werfen ice caves and its 1400 stairs). As we walked by the temple, Elspeth noticed something in the bush...who was hanging out in some temple greenery? It was none other than Curious George. And so started Curious' adventures in Kyoto.

[If you look closely, you can see ALL OF THE STAIRS]

[Why, hello there Curious George! Come on an adventure with us!]

[See, Curious likes the pretty leaves too!]



We checked out some shops, including a cute Japanese crafts store (mom, some decorations will be heading your way from this store) and then saw a frickin huge torii. After waiting for forever we finally squeezed ourselves on a bus (I was standing on one foot and Elspeth was pushed up against me hoping the door would close) and got ourselves to Eikando (another famous place for autumn leaves). Eikando claimed to have 3000 maples leaves, where Tofuku-ji only had a measly 2000. We had planned to visit Nanzen-ji as well but when we found Eikando charging 1000yen for their 'autumnal exhibit' (no joke) we decided to splurge on Eikando and spend more time there. This is the point where my stupid camera battery died. All the time/energy/power spent on taking blurry night photos of Kiyomizu-dera must have zapped the little dude's battery. I quickly bought an old school disposable camera. Thankfully, Elspeth was able to take some kick-ass photos.

[Yippeee!! I'll do a little dance!]



[So Dad, how do you think the little monks rake this garden? We sat there and wondered - a big cookie-cutter-mold thing? HOW?!?!]

This place was great, although rainy and cold. We got to see the "Backwards-Looking Amida Buddha" and go up to the pagoda on the hill that gave us a great view of rainy Kyoto.



[Elspeth: 'You're not smiling enough'. Laura then responds with this frightening smile]

[Curious enjoying the view of Kyoto from the pagoda]

It started to pour and we carefully climbed down, snapped a few last pictures and headed back to Kyoto eki to do some omiyage (gift) shopping. We met up with Jeannine, checked out the decorations at the station (Mom, they even played Kenny G's Christmas cd), ate the most scrumptious tonkatsu and ice cream sundaes and then got our shinkansen back to Nagoya.



So wonderful. What an experience.

Raindrops on Maple Leaves

Last weekend Elspeth and I took a mini-break to Kyoto. This trip was all about the leaves - it was supposedly the BEST weekend for maple leaves and we had everything planned. The weather gods threw in some rain to see if we could handle it and of course we rocked it and stuck to our plan (it wasn't the 9 temple/shrine marathon outlined in Elspeth's magazine but we saw four and took our time).



We went to Kyoto in style - on the shinkansen. I love living in Nagoya. In only 45 minutes I can be in Kyoto. So at 9:30 we stepped off the train into Kyoto eki and headed towards Fushimi Inari. Some of you may remember how Elspeth and I climbed part of this shrine in the summer but had to turn back because it was so bloody humid (Elspeth even thought I had asthma because I was wheezing!). We were determined to climb the whole 4km loop and we were victorious!



Once we passed the first good look out, we had the place pretty much to ourselves. The leaves were beautiful, the weather perfect and the red torii were enjoyable, as usual.









We headed back to Kyoto eki where we did some 300 yen store shopping (got some supersoft and warm slippers) and then met up with Elspeth's friend Jeannine. We jumped on a bus and went to Kiyomizu-dera (one of the most famous sites in Kyoto). In the autumn the maple leaves are lit up at night. It started pouring rain and the lights didn't go on until 6pm so we found a Chinese food restaurant and hung out for a while (it was a good thing we had to wait - the food took forever to come). The rain didn't stop but we decided to go anyway - us and hundreds of other Japanese tourists. The place was packed, even though it was POURING. It was cool to see the leaves lit up and Kiyomizu-dera was breath-taking. I'm going back at Christmas break to see it properly during the day.





It is called the 'clear water' temple because of this famous waterfall where you can take a sip of water. There are three different spots where you can drink and the three of us became sort of a tourist attraction when we all stood at a waterfall and drank. Somewhere in Japan, there is a photo of three foreign girls drinking at Kiyomizu-dera.







By time we left were were soaked. We hopped in a cab and went to Jeannine's apartment (that she shares with her sister) and we hung out for a while, chatting, etc. Then Elspeth and I successfully navigated the bus system back to our hostel. Oh man, our hostel was so nice. It was super clean and new and they even gave you sheets and clips to make a curtain around your bunk. So that was day one. Tomorrow I'll post about day two, where you'll hear stories about 5000 maple trees, pagodas, rain, camera batteries dying, more rain and Curious George!