Ella has a friend who is also visiting Japan with his family and we were all amazed to meet them as they were walking to their their hotel after having just arrived (by Shinkansen) from Osaka, an amazing coincidence considering this is a city of 1.4 million people and Kyoto Station must be one of the busiest areas in this city.
For us it was a perfect day to see Kinkakuji, the so called Golden Pavillion, a World Heritage listed Zen temple in northern Kyoto. The top two floors of this temple are completely covered in gold leaf - and it was all really sparkling in the sunshine this morning.
The temple started life as a retirement villa for a powerful Shogun - becoming a Zen temple, according to the Shogun's will, after his death in 1408. It has burned down numerous times throughout its history, most recently in 1950 when a fanatical monk set it alight. The present structure was rebuilt in 1955. Apparently it took 20kg of gold leaf to complete the gilded finish at that time.
As well as all its other attractions Kyoto Station has a floor of street style ramen restaurants on its 10th floor. We tried one today for our late lunch. It was delicious of course. We are all really enjoying the food on offer here and the long conversations we can share over our regular coffee and food stops.
We did some more exploring around the older streets and arcades of Kyoto downtown in the late afternoon. I avoided buying a kimono and Ella avoided looking for more vintage treasures even though there were definite opportunities there.
Kinkakuji was built to echo the extravagant culture of the aristocracy in the Shogun's times. We all remarked on how the Trump era is echoing all these grandiose dreams too - just not with the same level of taste.
We walked around the temple gardens which are still in their centuries old layout. People throw coins at these small groups of statues for good luck!
We loved the detailing on this Edo era teahouse in the temple grounds.
I also love this pic of Ella striding out in one of the many lines of the massive Kyoto Railway Station. She has incredible aptitude for noting detail and a great sense of direction. So she has become our natural travel leader working out the sometimes very complex and confusing (but very efficient) Japanese public transport system.
The big historic sites in Kyoto are very spread out so we have been very dependent on the train and bus system to get around. Ella is owning this particular space!
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