Kyoto Day 2 Part 1

We wanted to get an early start to our long day of sightseeing–did not happen.

Hot, in the upper 80s with clear skies. The forecast is for afternoon thunderstorms. Ugh. It’s too hot to wear our rain coats, so we decided to go the umbrella route. The only umbrella that we have is the clear big umbrella that we got in Osaka, and I didn’t feel like carrying that thing around all day.

So, we went on a search for two small compact folding umbrellas, which you’d think would be easy. We went to Muji, kind of like a Bed Bath and Beyond of Japan. We saw umbrellas there the other day. Well…they had $20 umbrellas that were folding, but manually folding….No! Then we walked frustratingly around the shops for a while longer until finally we came upon a small convenience store that sold folding umbrellas. Finally! The Japanese for some reason love the big nonfolding umbrellas.

After 20 minutes of umbrella shopping, we waited for the bus to take us to our first sight. We waited in the bus line with tons of Chinese tourists. Sigh.

Lots of traditional Japanese houses are still here in Kyoto.

It’s still early in the day…relatively, so we suspected that most of the tourists on this bus will get off at the first major sight closest to Kyoto Station. We were right. We decided to stay on and first go to the sight farthest away and work out way backwards to try to avoid some of the crowd.

35 minutes later, we are here.

It’s hot!

Philosopher’s path.

Looks like we may have made the right decision, not too many tourists here.

Arriving at Ginkakuji.

Moss!!!

Bamboo forest.

Rock garden.

The Silver Pavilion…doesn’t actually have any silver. This is actually one of my favorite sights here in Kyoto, even though it’s not nearly as popular as some other places.

I don’t do well with the heat.

I really enjoy the garden here.

Moss!!

KL points, at himself.

KL double points.

MOSS!!!

OK, that’s that. One down…many more to go.

Yes please.

Hmmmm…sooo good. How can you go wrong with a green tea cream puff with green tea ice cream added to it.

Now, we talk a walk on the Philosopher’s Path, hopefully it’s mostly shaded. The sun is brutal out here.

This is actually quite serene and nice.

Dropped into a shop along the path, where there was a giant dragon fly slamming repeated into the light.

Lots of nice little cafes lines this path.

Walking along this path ended up being RL’s favorite part of the day.

It’s not raining, but it is really sunny. Time for parasol.

Love these vibrant blue roof tiles on many Japanese houses.

This path is also lined with some giant beautiful houses.

Carp? We saw several of these swimming in the stream.

This house has barb wires on the top of the fence. None of the other houses had it…politician?

Wild cats.

Abandoned cafe, and seems like it’s been abandoned for a while. Odd.

OK, done with the path. That was nice. For how nice it is, surprised there weren’t more tourists.

LOL!! These girls, who were both dressed kind of outlandish, were STRUGGLING to push their bikes up a small incline.

Look at this giant moth that looks like a leaf.

The quiet and quaint neighborhood streets of Kyoto.

At the end of the Philosopher’s path, we reached Eikan do Zenrin ji temple. This temple is famous for their beautiful maple trees.

Planning the route.

Japan is so picturesque.

Hiking up to a small pagoda that sits in the mountain side.

Almost there.

So close!

Reached the top!!! Queue Eye of the Tiger. Actually, it wasn’t such a bad climb.

Incredible view though.

Again, planning where to head to after this. Kyoto only has two subway lines, so to get around buses are the best. Unfortunately, bus stops are not always as clearly marked as subways.