Andre and Wendy: Kyoto last day

Today we plan on making it a much easier day than yesterday. Another day with shrines and temples, which Kyoto is known for. There are more than1600 Buddhist temples and 400 Shinto Shrines in Kyoto, I'm starting to feel like we have seen enough of them.

We start the day off by taking a bus to Ginkaku-ji and visit a very beautiful garden here. This is also called the Silver Pavilion, didn't see anything silver about it, but I now know that it was modelled by the grandson of the Golden Pavilion with intentions of covering it in silver foil, this never happened but it is still known as the Silver Pavilion.

There are a few shops open as we walked down to our next stop and we came across a shop making cheese filled yuba. This was something I had been looking for as it was one of the things to try in this area. It is tofu skin filled with cheese. It was quite good, though quite greasy. Don't know that I would bother with it again. one of the most important Zen temples in all of Japan. It is the head temple of one of the schools within the Rinzai sect of Japanese Zen Buddhism.

Next we walk to 2 km Philosophers Path. This path was named after philosopher Nishida Kitarow housed it for daily meditation. This path would be spectacular in cherry blossom season as the cherry trees are lining the pathway along the canal. Still pretty today, but it will definitely be a different level in a couple of weeks, probably a different level of crowds as well.

At the end of the Philosophers path we walked to the Nanzen-ji one of the most important Zen temples in all of Japan. It is the head temple of one of the schools within the Rinzai sect of Japanese Zen Buddhism. Inside there were some Zen gardens and many panels that had been completed by the students. This is the first time this trip we have seen an aqueduct as well. This area would be spectacular in the fall colours.

We finished our adventures this morning at Heian-Jingu Shrine. We had seen the huge torii gates when we arrived by bus earlier today. We went to the shrine but lots of construction and setup going on for some kind of even, didn't stay here too long.

Caught a bus back to the hotel, grabbed some sandwiches at 7/11 and are now waiting for our laundry to finish since it is free at the hotel and we are moving on again tomorrow. A little rainy out this afternoon so we are having a bit of a lazy day.

After a very long process of doing laundry, a short nap and a bit of writing for this blog we went out to supper at a mall just outside the Kyoto Station. A few restaurants to choose from. We did a very small bit of shopping in the department stores, I think we may have spent $10, then back to the hotel for our final free drink as we check out tomorrow.

Finally find an easier way to cross over the railway tracks to the other side

Follow the colored stripes for the line you are looking for

Temple we passed by on the way to the temple we were planning on visiting

We will walk along this canal for 2km later

Strawberries are a real thing here in Japan. One of these days we will break down and try the $5 for 4 berries treat

Ginkaku-ji garden

Ginkaku-ji - When you first enter there is a dry sand garden, known as the "Sea of Silver Sand", with a massive sand cone named "Moon Viewing Platform"