In Kyoto with Aunt Chris

Our next days in Kyoto were just as exciting! Each morning we would get up and change from our yukattas into our Western street clothes and walk and walk!



Everyday we would pass the river and watch the herons fishing.



We also saw what I think was a falcon.





So, on our second day in Kyoto you will not be surprised to hear that we did a lot of walking. Starting off in the morning headed toward Gion the pleasure district famous for its Geishas. The twisted streets and little neighborhoods were interesting in themselves...



Of course Gion is a big tourist area so there were the unavoidable tourist rides.



...and eventually we found a few interesting temples, ...


like Sennin-ji Kyoto’s oldest temple –



Here is a detail of the roof tiles and decorations.



Every turn had a memorable photograph!



This temple is quite famous for a beautiful screen of two demigods...





...and a two dragon ceiling.



We plodded through various halls and open-air passages in our red plastic slippers and got to see some of the historic interiors:



as well as a calligraphy class. We arrived just in time to see them finishing the raking of the zen garden...



and of course there were many other beautiful gardens as well:



and watched a woman in a deep, deep bonnet painstakingly manicure the moss garden with a pair of tweezers.



We saw some beautiful rock gardens.



Although we never saw any real Geisha, as we left the temple there were some women dressed as Maiko (Geisha in training) probably advertising the show at Gion corner, so we took pictures and tried to be satisfied with the hyperreal.





The streets of Gion are unlike anywhere else in the world!






Next we went shopping in the covered shopping area Teramachi dori.







(a traditional Japanese version of a Mall) where we enjoyed the lines of stalls selling traditional pickles, fish and Japanese sweets.





After that it was on to contemporary shopping in the modern mall.



That was great, cause Chris and I are equal opportunity shoppers!! Eventhough the day was only half over, I'll close for now and continue in another post! The best was yet to come!