(Click each photo to see a larger version.) | |
|---|---|
 |
Mizue-san, Wadatchi and Maya-san met us at our station in Sannomiya, and we all rode to Kyoto Station together where we met up with Nobara-san and Yukiko-san. (Sakura-san was originally going to go with us, too, but something came up.) A taxi-van with an English-speaking driver had been set up. Christeen and I did not know much about what we wanted to see, so we put ourselves in the driver's hands. Our first stops were the 2 Hongwanji temples (East and West) because I had mentioned that we'd been thinking of seeing them on our own (they are in walking distance of the station). This photo is West. We went onto the grounds and even took our shoes off and went inside briefly to look around. (At East we just stopped for a moment and looked through the gates.) |
 |
On our way across town to the driver's first "real" tour stop, we saw lots of pretty scenery... |
 |
...and interesting scenes. The whole town is like a festival at cherry blossom time. |
 |
As we walked into Maruyama Koen the first thing we saw was this HUGE tree. Mizue-san said it was probably a hundred years old. That's Maya-san and Mizue-san futzing with something, with Christeen watching. |
 |
This pond is just to the right of that big tree... |
 |
...and this is just beyond the bridge from there. The sky was cloudy and grey, so the camera can't do justice to the colors we saw. This Maruyama Park is a must for anyone touring Kyoto! It was the prettiest spot of the day. |
 |
Mizue-san posed for me in front of a drooping cherry tree. |
 |
There were other big cherry trees, too, but not as huge as that first one. Talk about "full bloom"! |
 |
The park has lots of paths to follow, with cherries everywhere. |
 |
The park is surrounded by temples and shrines, and there was even a high-class restaurant off in one corner. |
 |
As we headed across town towards Ryouanji and Kinkakuji, we stopped in a historic neighborhood that has rows of old-style houses along the riverfront. These days, I think, the old homes are preserved as the shops of artisans in ancient crafts like, perhaps, kimono making. This photo was taken across the street, looking toward the river. I thought the spring foliage was pretty, and the other tourist with their cameras and cell phones were interesting. |
 |
Continuing our drive across town, Mizue-san and several others were excited to see this great view of "Mount Hiei" and I like the scene, too, so I snapped this photo. Later, I found our more about the mountain: its mystic history, the monastaries that lie deep in its forests... |
 |
This plum tree on the grounds at Ryoanji Temple (of the rock garden fame) has two colors of flowers. I couldn't resist a snapshot. |
 |
Walking up towards the rock garden, Mizue-san posed for me in front of a flowering tree. It was near here, a few moments later, climbing the steps toward the rock garden, that I suddenly felt: "I am truly in Japan." It only took me a week to realize it, haha. |
 |
We sat down in the gallery in front of the famous rock garden. People talk only in hushed voices there. I sat with Maya-san, and she tried to help me understand. Then we sat quietly for a while until Wadatchi hurried us along. (There were deadlines for getting into other planned stops.) |
 |
I scanned this out-of-season picture of the tea room wash basin from the tourist leaflet for Ryoanji. My own carefully zoomed and framed shot did not even take for some reason. (I was holding up the flow of traffic past the garden as I stood there to take the picture, so I didn't even realize until we got home that I had no picture of it.) The inscription means "I learn just for contentment." ��B���m�@ "Ware tada taru (wo) siru." |
 |
I liked the entrance gate to the grounds at Ryoanji so, as we were leaving I got Mizue-san and Christeen(-san) to pose for me, even though everyone was hurrying to the taxi because the temple at Kinkaku would be closing its gates in 20 minutes. |
 |
We made it through the entry gates in time, so we could take our time walking to the temple. Lots of stately old pines here at Kinkaku-ji. |
 |
This is said to be the most photographed spot in the world. The Golden Pavillion. Our driver came with us as we walked around, and he told stories and history and jokes. |
 |
The island between us and the temple is man-made, designed to look like a map of Japan when viewed from the Shogun's spot on the 2nd floor, so he could see all that he controlled. Our driver said that when President Bush visited Japan recently, they gave him a tour of the building, but didn't let him go to the 2nd floor, haha. |
 |
The world's largest bonsai. Seriously, this tree was apparently the shogun's bonsai tree. |
 |
The Golden Pavillion seen through a tree. |
 |
The Ryuumon waterfall, along the path away from the pavillion. |
 |
One last look back at the pavillion. The moss-covered hill on the right generated quite a bit of discussion. The ladies asked about the beautiful moss, and our guide/driver said that this is no ordinary moss. It is being transplanted here from some far place at great expense. He showed us some of the pitiful moss that grows naturally in the area these days. There was much discussion in Japanese for a long time about moss. |
 |
Before leaving Kinkaku-ji, we stopped at the visitors' tea house for a tea ceremony and a small sweet. We sat with a view of a garden, and we talked about the temples and about Sunday's tea ceremony that Yukiko-san had done for us. |
 |
Next stop, Hirano Jinja. There were so many cherry trees it was like a vast orchard (though these are not fruiting trees, I don't think). There was a beer garden, and many booths selling various foods, like roasted corn on the cob, candy apples, and kushiyaki. A real carnival atmoshphere. |
 |
It's too bad the sky was so gray. It didn't harm our day at all, but the photos just don't show the colors we saw. So many shades of blossoms, from white through every pink imaginable. |
 |
Some of the cherry trees are quite large and stately. |
 |
I look almost too big to go through these gates. |
 |
Mizue-san, Yukiko-san, Maya-san and Nobara-san posing with me under a drooping cherry. |
 |
Wadatchi, Christeen, Mizue-san, and Yukiko-san. Near here, we entered the shrine yard. There were several huge trees, a fire-pit where sticks with prayers written on them are burned, and a cute pair of trees flanking the temple steps, but none of my photos were any good. |
 |
Looking back at the entrance to Hirano Jinja as we left. |
 |
This is a list of the ten varieties of cherries that grow at Hirano Jinja, with a description of the flowers, and the dates when they typically bloom (from mid-march to late April). Afterwards we went to a beautiful restaurant called Ganko. The building used to be the residence of various political figures, and there were gardens all around the rear of the building, with streams and waterfalls, rocks and trees... I took a short walk before we ate. The food was a little too exotic, but luckily I had Wadatchi sitting across from me to tell me how to eat each item. I only slipped up twice: once when I tried to eat the tail of a shrimp tempura (?) and once when I dipped some sweet item into the soy sauce and wasabi. Wadatchi-sensei was upset that I had created a bad flavor combo, haha! |