Howdy- I haven't posted lately, so I have some catching up to do. Last month, my brother's friend(and now our's) was over working for Nissan in Tokyo for the month. One weekend he made the bullet train ride to visit us over in Kansai. Naturally we went to Kyoto.
Dan and I have been to many places in Japan now and are pretty convinced that Kyoto is the best city. So, we took Tyler to a few of our favorite places as well visiting some new ones for the first time. One place we went was Kinkakuji. It's the "Golden Temple". It is one of the most famous temples in Kyoto and probably Japan for that matter. Interesting fact#1: It was burned down by a Buddhist monk who had become obsessed with it.
Kinkakuji in all it's glory. It had snowed the day before we went and turned out to be a great day.
Another view of Kinkakuji
We also went to the Imperial Palace, but soon realized that it wasn't that cool. It's open to the public for one week a year, and Dan and I didn't feel like going when it was. The grounds are really nice. There were people running, walking their dogs, and strolling around. Maybe it's the central park of Kyoto. The actual palace is surrounded by tall walls and you can't see any of it.
Me, Dan, and Tyler at the Imperial Palace grounds.
Rob and Amber at Za Watami(a good izakaya)
A couple members of a boy-band that we ran into in Kyoto
Amber, Rob, Dan, Me and Gransan at the Monkey Park.
Rob, Amber and Dan in the Bamboo forest.
Rob climbing a wall at Hikone Castle
Dan and Rob posing with a giant tanooki. There are statues of tanookis all over the country. They are often near entrances of stores/restaurants and are supposed to represent good economy.
Rob and Amber at The A Bar. This is our favorite bar in Kyoto.
Dan and Rob taking it in at the Kobe harbor.
