So once again i am neglecting this blog...i want to say that the lateness of the posting will promtly end, but lets face it thats not going to happen.

So the first weekend in November i went up to Kyoto for three days. I went with a few of the other teachers from y school. In many ways i was glad to have them there and in many ways i wish it was just me for the weekend. I arrived on Sat. night. That night we just went out for drinks and hung out. Our sightseeing started on Sunday. the first place that we went was Sanjusangendo. Its this really long temple with like 1001 Buddhas, literally there are 1001...thats a lot of Buddhas. There room was filled with them, and seemed to go on forever. They were life sized and gold leafed. though the gold was worn away a bit. It must have been quite a sight to see when it was new. the gold must have been overwhelming.

The long building with the buddha

After that we went to a temple with quite a history. The ceiling of the temple is made from an old floor that was in a nearby castle. On this floor someone committed a ritual suicide. When you look up at the ceiling you can actually see the blood stains where the body was. The rest of the day was pretty much spent wandering and shopping.

The next morning we started the day Mampukuji which is a temple complex built by a chinese monk. because of this you can see Chinese details thoughout the area. It was really pretty. While we were there we got fortunes. Mine was ok not great, not bad so i kept it.

After that we went to another temple called Byodoin. its a really famous temple, like really famous, its on the back of the ten yen coin. Its supposed to look like a phionix. you can kinda see it. There was a museum there. It was average but at one point they showed was the temple would have looked like after it was first built. The colors were amazing . I cant imagine what and awe inspiring sight it must have been.
Then we went to Fushimi-Inari. This shrine has like a million tori gates. More than i ever thought possible to see in one place. You walk through them as they wind up a mountain. After this all of the other teachers went home to Okayama.

the next day i had the whole day to galavant on my own. The first place i went to was Kinkakuji. Its the golden pavilion. Before i went i had low expectations. In the pictures it looked sooo brilliant, I didnt think it could measure up. But it really does, its just as beautiful in real life. This is my favorite pic. I have been told that i should give it to the people to use on the post cards... i really am starting to really like taking pictures.

After that i took two buses on an hour and a half trip across the city to Kiyomizu-dera. This is a temple built up the side of a mountain. It is not as good as the one in Hiroshima, but it is good. You can look out over the city and there is one place that you can drink water flowing from a natural spring.