Nijo-Jo Castle

The rain had cleared today and we went by train (this is a picture of the train station, with the doors on the station platform closed until a train stops, when the train and platform doors open simultaneously)

to Nijo-Jo Castle. 

The emperor decided what to plant in the inner garden of the castle, 

but the outer garden was designed by Kobori Enshu, one of the most famous Japanese garden designers. 

We then took a tram 

to Tenryuji Temple, 

and then took a short walk to the famous bamboo forest, which has become very popular, and people have etched their names and other graffiti onto the bamboo, so brush walls have been installed to try to stop the graffiti. It was also very crowded. 

The walk to the station was very pleasant. 

We went on an automated train, so I could see out the front as we came into Tokyo station.

Imperial Palace - Kyoto

Today we went to the Imperial Palace at Kyoto 

and saw the waiting rooms from the outside (there were different waiting rooms for different levels of dignitaries)

and the gardens. 

It was raining hard and we were all completely soaked. We saw the Goou-jinja Shinto Shrine on the way to the train station going back to our hotel.

Philosopher’s Walk

Today we visited the Philosopher’s Walk in Kyoto. We actually walked and walked and walked. But to begin, we caught a taxi to Kiyomizu-dera Temple. We were dropped off a fair bit before the temple because the street was so crowded, but the crowds had thinned a bit by the time we reached the temple. The temple itself has several floors of footings, which must be very strong to hold the crowd!

After we’d walked through the temple and across the bridge, the crowd thinned out a lot, and the walk through the gardens up the hill was more pleasant.

We walked back, through the crowds and went down Teapot Street through more crowds.

Soon we were in reasonably quiet streets, 

on our way to Shoren-in and its magnificent gardens.

We then went to Eikando.

We reached the philosopher’s path soon after, and wandered along it 

until we reached the signs to Ginkaku-gi (the Silver Temple), and the crowds. We wandered through Ginkaku-gi 

and then caught a bus back to our accommodation. The bus stop was quite crowded, and we were quite lucky to get on the second bus.