Parting Kyoto

We decided to do one final things before leaving Kyoto for Tokyo. After our tour of the Kyoto Imperial Palace we decided to pay a visit to the Golden Pavilion.

This place is just like it sounds. It's a traditional Japanese building, but it's covered in gold. It's quite impressive. The park around it is also pretty neat.
 

Kyoto Imperial Palace

Okay, I'm a big fat liar. I told you a few posts ago that what I was showing you was the Kyoto Imperial Palace. I lied. That wasn't the Kyoto Imperial Palace. The next eight pictures actually are. I swear.

       

Kyoto Imperial Palace II (see above)

Kyoto Part II

Another thing we did in Kyoto was one of the neatest things we did on the whole trip. There was a shrine tucked into the mountains called Kiyomizu Temple. The building itself is very cool and the setting is amazing. It's built right out from a hill and has some great views.

It was actually nominated for one of the "new wonders of the world", but it didn't receive enough votes to make the final cut. Regardless, it is a really cool place to visit and we would both recommend it.

Kyoto

Next up on our trip was Kyoto. We arrived the same evening we visited Himeji, so we just headed straight to the hotel for the night.

I guess we did go out and grab some food first, though. We had Japanese style curry at a fast food curry place. It was pretty simple, basically just rice and some brown curry sauce. Simple, but it was actually pretty good.

Anyway, one of the things we did in Kyoto was go to the Kyoto Imperial Palace for a guided tour. Kyoto was the capital of Japan before it was moved to Tokyo. The palace was where the royal family lived and received guests. The pictures below show some of the palace.

Biking

You may or may not have noticed that I've started a list of my rides on the right column. I need to find a better way to do this, but for now I thought it was a good way to show what I've been doing. Plus, it's a good motivational tool for me.

Bourne Ultimatum

Jen and I went to see the third "Bourne" movie last night. Just like the other ones, it was awesome. It's been a long time since I have seen a good action movie. I highly recommend it.

More Japan (Himeji Part II)

In addition to the castle in Himeji, there was also a pretty nice garden. Here's some pictures from it.

More Japan

After leaving Hiroshima, Jen and I headed toward Kyoto. On our way we stopped off in a small town to see Himeji Castle. It's reputed to be the largest "fuedal" castle in all of Japan. Of all the castle's I've seen in Japan, or Europe for that matter, Himeji Castle is definitely the most impressive. It is absolutely beautiful.

The pictures below show the main tower. There is also a fairly large grounds with lots of other buildings, but the tower dominates. You can also see some of the moats around the castle. You can also see how the main tower rises far above the rest of the city. At one time, the entire city was a big castle with moats and walls around the outside. The Japanese cities of the middle ages were MUCH more impressive than those in Europe.

This last picture shows Jen pretending to shoot an arrow out of one of the arrow holes. Let's just say it's a good thing we were born in the 20th century.