Kyoto

Today we sailed into Osaka. 

Our tour was to the ancient capital of Kyoto. 

Immigration and customs were slooooow. Immigration was extremely tight and everybody was thoroughly checked and finger prints and photos taken ( digitally).

Kyoto, on a map, looks quite a ways from Osaka but in reality it is all one city. Because we were running late right from the “get go” we went for an early lunch at 11 AM ( right beside our first stop). The lunch was really neat. We had all the food set individually out on our table and honestly I ate a bit of everything and had no idea what it was. It was tasty however.

The first stop was the bamboo forest. It was interesting but with thousands of people ( being a beautiful Sunday and is a National holiday) it was merely OK. 

The shrine garden inside this UNESCO site was spectacular however! We paid the $C4.40 entrance fee  each to walk around the grounds of Tenryu-ji Temple. Beautiful!

Next was a stop at Ryoanji Temple. Famous for its rock garden, we enjoyed the grounds and area much more than the first temple we visited. The sun  was shining brightly so that added to the beautiful scenery. 

The third and final stop was was the Golden Pavilion. Covered with gold leaf the pavilion was magnificent. We thoroughly enjoyed the visit to this site. So many photo ops. 

We were both very thirsty by the end so we used our credit cards to purchase things from the vending machines. I bought water while Caro experimented and got a hot drink ( my water was cold and both items came from the same machine-neat!)