Kyoto

We had a blast in Kyoto! We crammed as much as possible into our two days there. Here are some of our favorite places/things we did. I'm not including too much history because it would take too long, but each place has a link for anyone interested.

Golden Pavilion Actually covered in gold! This is the number 1 tourist spot in Kyoto. so cool!!

Geisha dinner--we got tickets through a travel agency for a geisha performance followed by a traditional Japanese dinner. She was actually a maiko (geisha in training) only 17 years old. After performing 2 fan dances for us, we got to ask her questions (I had many!) and get our pictures taken with her. This was my favorite part of the trip.

The traditional dinner was not so great. Lots of let's just say interesting things. Ryan loved it, me not so much. He ate all of his dinner, most of mine and then later that night we stopped at Mister Donut for me!

Himeji Castle was Ryan's favorite site, and not just because a James Bond movie was filmed here (1967, You Only Live Twice). It's one of Japan's top 3 castles. It was a huge fortress! The amazing thing about it is there is no cement used in building it--it's all wood and rocks.

We especially liked learning about all the defense mechanisms--for instance, see how the bottom 1/3 of the castle is rock? Pretty easy for enemies to climb up--so just above the rock level there are little stone throwing holes for the defenders to drop stones, pour boiling water or throw spears down on the attackers trying to scale the wall.
Kiyomizu-dera ("Pure Water Temple") is a beautiful Buddist temple up in the mountains with a great view of Kyoto. That's me in the top left photo--drinking the sacred water--it is said that if you drink the water and make a wish, your wish will come true.

Instead of a hotel, we opted for a ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn. Tatami mats, futons, sliding rice paper doors and a very gracious host. I loved everything about it, except the communal bathroom.Futons on the floor! not too bad--but I still prefer my mattress at home.
Fushimi Inari Shrine The cool thing about this shrine was the tunnels of torii (shrine gates) that went all the way up the mountain. approx. 10,000 torii.

Of course we had to get a bullet train picture for Trent--the Nozomi N700 traveled at a top speed of about 180 mph getting us to Kyoto in just over 2 hours. We were flying!
The kids did great and had a really fun time with their babysitters. It was a wonderful getaway trip for Ryan and me before our busy USA trip begins. We leave next Thursday and return to Tokyo Aug 12. I probably won't be blogging during our trip, so I hope everyone has a wonderful summer, and sayonara!