Today we stayed in Kyoto and explored the northwest area. We first made a stop at Yasaka and Heian shrines just up the street from where we were staying and then we took a LONG bus ride across town. I think it may have been faster to walk? but there was no way I was going to walk that far, so we stayed on the bus and enjoyed the warmth :)
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| Entrance to Yasaka shrine |
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| Wedding taking place on the dance stage here |
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| Standing in front of the large tori or gate to Heian Shrine |
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| Heian shrine is one of the newer shrines in Kyoto recently built in 1895! It was built to commemorate the 1100th anniversary of the founding of Kyoto as the nation's capital and is dedicated to the first and last emperors who reigned during that time. This shrine is a smaller scale replica of what used to be the Imperial Palace at the time of the first emperor in Kyoto. The buildings and grounds have more of a Chinese influence than other structures in Kyoto as that was popular during the Heian period. |
We finally made it to the other side of town and now we are climbing the mountain to go see the Iwatayama monkey park! A troop of Japanese macaque monkeys roam freely on Mt Arashiyama - there were lots of signs telling us not to feed or stare down the monkeys or we would be in Danger! Bruce did get some great pictures though without making any of them too upset.
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| Overlook of Kyoto near the top of the mountain |
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| View of downtown Kyoto and Kyoto tower from the other side of the valley from Kyumizadera temple |
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| Having fun with the monkeys! |
We left the monkeys on the mountain top and hiked back down to the Oi River. The fall colors here were so beautiful. We walked across the famous Togetsukyo bridge or Moon Crossing Bridge which spans the large river here.
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| Oi River |
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| Togetsukyo Bridge |
We walked through the charming town of Arashiyama with lots of little shops and restaurants and then headed out of town into the bamboo forest. Here we were surrounded by thick groves of bamboo which actually helped warm things up a few degrees as the trees blocked some of the wind!
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| We found some fellow English speakers from Europe who gladly took our photo here! |
After our walk the sun was starting to set so we decided to head to the Gion or Geisha district and walk around the downtown area. Below is the kabuki theater which was brightly lit up at night.
We saw one geisha tonight in a parked car - awesome! But in general the streets tonight were geisha free. We did enjoy Pontocho alley with its traditional Japanese architecture and quaint shops and restaurants.
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