Kinkakuji Temple

So this morning I took a bus to meet the others at Kinkakuji Temple. They had risen early to go to a market, but I wanted to experiment with packing a bit more, so I skipped the market. Kinkakuji Temple is covered in gold leaf and looked absolutely glorious in the sunshine, and we went for a long walk around the gardens surrounding it. There was even a crane posing for pictures on one of the islands in the ponds.

Kinkakuji Temple

Crane!

After Kinkakuji, we headed back to our district (Ginkakuji) and had incredibly tasty ramen (with kotteri broth) for lunch. We went for a much longer walk down the Path of Philosophy, stopping to look at kimonos, and ended up right down near Nanzen-ji Temple, which looked beautiful in the late afternoon sunshine. There are over 2000 temples and shrines in Kyoto alone, which is why I've been blogging so much about them! We have also had several experiences where we have re-met other tourists we have met along the way. We met a French-Japanese couple in a restaurant in Hiroshima, and then Dad saw them the other day on the Path of Philosophy in Kyoto! And last night at Kyoto Station we got talking to two doctors from Chile, and bumped into them again today at the Kinkakuji Bus Stop. In a country of over 122 million people, you can understand why we found this so weird!

Nanzen-ji Temple

Nanzen-ji Temple

Marnie, Dad and I went back into Gion for one last okonomiyaki and it was the tastiest, most delicious thing. We then walked back through lit up, beautiful Gion, down the older streets and even saw an apprentice geisha! Which I believe is called a mako? We took the bus home, and continued our efforts to pack. We fly out tomorrow night. See you all soon!

Okonomiyaki!

Okonomiyaki!