Weekend in Kyoto!

On 23rd May i set off on a flight to Osaka with my family where we would then catch the train to Kyoto for the weekend. One thing i have learned is that train stations are not designed for big suitcases or for people who have too many suitcases, stress central!! We arrived in Kyoto at about 8pm to our hotel ANA Crowne Plaza straight across the road from Nijo-jo which was the Shogun's castle. The hotel had a really lovely waterfull with huge colourful koi carp! As we were all tired from travelling all day we ate some dinner in the hotel then headed to bed and i think i had possibly the best nights sleep ever!!

the view of Nijo-jo from our hotel room!!











The next day was 30 degrees and we couldn't quite bare the heat! We headed down to the area by the station and on the way stumbled across a temple - Nishihonganji temple. It was huge, inside people were praying. The structure of the temple was really beautiful and made from wood with gold carvings. Somehow we ended up in an electrical department store with hundreds of cameras and laptops etc and managed to spend almost 2 hours inside wandering about! That night we took the subway to Gion, which is the Geisha district in the hope of catching a glimpse of one but unfortunately we did not. However there were many women wearing beautiful kimono's about. We ate dinner in a shabu shabu restuarant which is another cook it yourself style. You have a pot of boiling water in the middle of the table and you cook your own beef, pork and vegetables. It was also delicious! おいしい!! If i had to choose between shabu shabu and yakiniku i think id choose shabu shabu although it is rather expensive :( Gion is full of life at night time and it was interesting to walk through however the sun rather tired us out and we headed back to the hotel.

The next day we were all taking a guided tour of Kyoto which was split into two tours, one morning and one afternoon broken up by lunch. In the morning we had a Japanese man called Kasey as our tour guide and he was possibly the funniest, most entertaining person i have ever met!   He was really good at his job and made it very fun. We firstly visited Higashihonganji temple which is the eastern temple of the one we had previously visited the day before. Kasey told us about this huge tree which was planted in the courtyard outside of the temple, that hundreds of years ago when the temple caught fire the tree spurted water from it and put the fire out. Not sure how much of that is true but it is a lovely story to tell! Inside was just as beautiful as the western temple however this time we were allowed to take pictures.

Next stop was Nijo-jo castle across from our hotel. Inside we werent allowed to take pictures but it was pretty big and each room was significant. It was built for the shogun to live in and to prevent intruders in the castle, nightingale flooring was put in. When many people walk on nightingale flooring the sound is similar to being inside an aviary. The floor boards made a high pitched squeaking sound to alert the people in the castle that there is someone walking around. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures inside but outside in the gardens we were and it was also beautiful there! 

Next stop was the Golden Pavilion also known as Kinkaku-ji. It was extremely busy here, i think it is possibly one of the most popular sights in Kyoto and it is understandable why. The pavilon sits at a far side of a pond which is surrounded by lovely gardens. the Golden Pavilion is a Zen Buddhist temple but unfortunately it was burned down by a Buddhist Monk in the 1950's, it has now been fully restored to its original form but it is not as old as many of the other temples in Kyoto. 

 After the Golden pavillion we headed to a hotel a little bit away from the Center of Kyoto for a buffet lunch. After we had stuffed our faces with pasta, rolls and ice cream we headed for the second half of the tour. This time out tour guide changed to a lovely little woman but unfortunately i cant remember her name. She wasn't as funny as Kasey but she was nice all the same. The next temple we headed to, Heian Jingu Shrine, i cant remember much about unfortunately. There were girls on their way to a wedding dressed in beautiful kimono's. My dad and i managed to catch a glimpse of the bride and groom dressed in traditional Japanese wedding clothing. It is very different to what we have in the UK.
All temples in Japan seem to  be surrounded by beautiful gardens and ponds, this temple was no exception. There was turtles swimming in the pond as well as huge carp. It was really peaceful and nice to walk around and enjoy the sun although not for too long as i didnt want to risk getting burnt again!!

The next place we headed to was probably one of the most impressive and again we were not allowed to take pictures but i managed to find a couple on the internet to show. The temple is called Sangusangen-do and is another Buddhist Temple. This one is unique as it houses 10001 wooden statues of the temple's deity- the thousand armed Kannon who is the goddess of Mercy. There is 500 human sized statues to the right of the temple and 500 human sized on the left separated by a huge statue of the deity in the middle.

Next stop was up on the hills , Kiyomizudera Temple which provided a brilliant view of the city. It houses an impressive Pagoda as well as many verandas where you can enjoy the view from the hilltops of Kyoto. There was many girls dressed in kimono's here posing for pictures! The hill up to the temple was lined with souvenir shops selling Japanese style ornaments, purses , kimono's, japanese food you name it they had it. Unfortunately i am a sucker for a souvenir shop and ended up buying a black kimono decorated with sakura and cranes! 


 

That was our last stop on the tour so we headed back to the hotel to grab our bags and hopped on the train back to Osaka Kansai airport where we were staying the night. We ate dinner at yet another Italian, i think my family's favourite food is probably Italian we should live in Italy! In the morning i said goodbye to my parents and sisters as there flight back home was just after 10am. I hung around the airport for a couple of hours where i found a subway, the first one i have came across in Japan. I was so happy, i had my usual ham and cheese covered in mayonnaise and sat and read my book and completed a few sudoku puzzles before my flight at 2:30pm. My flight back to Nagasaki had some serious turbulence and i thought when we were coming into landing that we were going to be landing in the sea, luckily the runway came into view just as we touched down. I had never noticed before that Nagasaki airport was a man made island, scary stuff! So now im back to my usual routine of work and eating toast for dinner , it was lovely having my family over to visit and the next time i see them will be back at home!! Crazy stuff, i am now half way through my placement,how time flies!!

Again all of my pictures have been uploaded to my facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/chloe.aaa/photos