Our next two stops on our morning tour was to Kyoto Imperial Castle and Kinkakuji Temple and lucky for us, the sun was out in full force. Certainly out of the two, Kinkakuji Temple was my favorite and possibly my favorite spot the entire Kyoto trip. The Golden Pavilion and the surrounding garden was a real sight. It provided for a lot of great photo opportunities despite being jam packed with people. I HIGHLY recommend going to Kinkakuji Temple if you are in Kyoto, you won’t be disappointed.

This was one of my favorite shots of the pavilion. When I have the time, I will Photoshop it a bit.

So the morning had us visiting Nijo Castle first. At this point the sun still didn’t come out, but luckily the rain stopped from earlier in the morning. While the tour was interesting and structure was nice to look at, this probably was one of the less enjoyable stops of the day. Although we only had about 1/2 hour to explore after our guided tour, it was more then enough time. Granted part of my lack of enthusiasm could be attributed to not having food in my stomach or the fact that we weren’t allowed to take pictures of the inside of the castle.

This was taken at our first stop, Nijo Castle and while the garden wasn’t spectacular, it did have a simple charm

Okay, you’re probably wondering what this is. This shows how the floor in certain areas of the house is constructed. This particular design caused the floor to creak whenever someone would walk on it, which would alert the guards of intruders.

If only one of those golden plates would have fallen into my hands…….

So our second and last day in Kyoto started just like the prior, VERY early in the morning as you can see on the picture to the right. (She’s going to kill me for that) Anyways we had a pretty busy day as in the morning we were to visit Kinkakuji Temple, Nijo Castle and Kyoto Imperial Castle. This would be followed by lunch at the Kyoto Handicraft Center and then a tour of Sanjusangendo Temple, Heian Jingu Shrine and Kiyomizudera Temple. As you can tell, we were going to be on the move a lot but I was really excited because this would let me take a lot of great pictures.

Although it looked pretty gloomy in the morning, the sun broke through in the afternoon.

So that wraps up Kyoto day 1. After we looked around downtown Kyoto, we went back to our hotel so that we could get a lot of rest since the next day would be another fun filled walking day. Unforunatly, it rained on our way back to the hotel ( I would put up pictures of how we looked when we reached the hotel, but I fear Boosan would hurt me if I did) So instead, enjoy a few of my favorite pictures.

Attack of the deer!! I think he was holding an ice-cream cone or something.

This was at the shrine.

I really enjoyed taking pictures of this structure as I was really impressed by the architecture.

I really liked how this picture turned out.

And this one too!

Just like in anime!

Next time I would like to try the tea/coffee shop here.

So after we came back to Kyoto, we quickly dropped our bags off and signed in at The Westin Miyako before heading out to downtown Kyoto. Unforunatly, because our tour during the day ran rather long, we came back at around 7:00, which only gave us a couple of hours to do some shopping in Kyoto. That’s the one bad thing about tour groups. While you are able to see and go to various places that would otherwise be rather difficult on your own, more then half the time is spent traveling. While walking around Kyoto, one of my favorite sites is pictured to the right, the stream. In almost every anime/j-drama, it seems like they always show a scene near such streams and while there are some in Tokyo, this was the first time actually seeing it. Next time we visit Japan, I would like to stay in Kyoto for a couple of days and just explore, like we did with Tokyo.

This was Boosan’s favorite store in Kyoto. Did we ever take home a lot from here!

Sorry for not updating my blog as often anymore, I’ve recently started a new job so I haven’t had as much free time as I would like, plus I can’t access my blog from work =(. Anyways our first stop on our Kyoto/Nara 2 day trip was to Todaiji Temple, home of a great image of Buddha and Nara Park famous for the deer. I have to admit, I’ve never really seen a deer up close like this, let alone having deer literally EVERYWHERE and coming right up to you so you can pet them! The statue and temple was really a site to see too!

Our last little mini trip was a 2 day trip to Kyoto and Nara. While you aren’t able to bring all your luggage with you due to space constraints, you can leave it at the hotel at no extra charge.

Again, our day started out bright and early at 7:00am to catch our bus to Tokyo Station to catch our shinkansen ride to Kyoto.

Fortunately, the train ride is pretty comfortable so we were able to catch up on some much needed sleep. Once we got there, it was one of our favorite times of the day, LUNCH TIME, and were we ever hungry. Unlike some of our other trips, we weren’t able to grab onigiri or other snacks at our local convenience store to eat on the train/bus.

This was taken outside of Kyoto Station.

This was the main course for our lunch, which was included in the trip package. We ate at the hotel restaurant that’s located just across the street from Kyoto Station. Not only did they have a great salad bar that had more salmon than salad, the main course that’s pictured above was fantastic!! Hands down, one of the best steaks that I’ve ever had. I just wish it was larger!

He tried to eat me! seriously…no lie…..

This was the first time we ever saw a panda up so close! All he did was eat and eat and eat some more.

On our way into Tokyo National Museum. As big as Ueno Park is, it’s really easy to find your way around.

Haha, some of the kids were wondering why we were taking their picture. (You can see some facing us when they should be facing the other way)

So if you are in the Ueno Park area, another must see place would probably be the zoo (assuming you like animals). Although the only zoo I went to was the Toronto Zoo, I never saw pandas so this was a first for both of us. Unfortunately, there was only one giant panda out, but it was really great to see. It’s really impressive how large Ueno Zoo is, considering it’s in Tokyo. While in terms of area, the Toronto Zoo is no doubt larger, it’s literally in the middle of nowhere and the selection of animals is certainly smaller! Stay tuned for more pictures of our Ueno Zoo/Ueno Park adventure!

Our first stop at Ueno Park was the Tokyo National Museum. There are over 90,000 items held in this museum and they often have various features. It was really interesting to see the different artifacts that were on display, especially the different Kimonos and Katanas. If you only visit one of the museums in Tokyo, this would be the one I would recommend. Also, remember to pick up a travelers guide which is usually available at your hotel or transit station, as it has various coupons for reduced admission fees for places such as the Tokyo National Museum.