Osaka - Shitennoji Temple, part 2

Osaka - Shitennoji Temple

When my friend visited us over Thanksgiving, we went to Kyoto and Osaka. We stayed in a hostel, which was quite the experience. My friend has stayed in hostels while traveling before, but the dude and I were rather surprised. I guess I should have known by how cheap it was, even though it was listed on hotels(dot)com. Our first stop in Osaka was Shitennoji Temple.

We're back to blogging!

Sorry for the lack of posts. The holidays were rather busy, and then I went home to visit family. It was hard to get motivated to post when I was outside of Japan. I have returned to Japan, so it's time to dust off this blog. :)

The big news is that the dude proposed on NYE. We're engaged! Here's a photo of us when we went to visit the Tokyo Tower on NYE. He wanted to propose with fireworks in the background, but NYE is a family holiday in Japan and there are no fireworks in Tokyo. We found out Yokohama (about 45 mins away by train) had fireworks. It was a very relaxed evening.

Kyoto - Gion District

After the castle, we spent forever looking for food. We found a great spot online, but it was closed already, so we went with a second choice. That place ended up being closed when we walked there. We went to another place that was open, but the food was mediocre. Oh well, live and learn. We then went to Gion, the historic downtown part of Kyoto. You can read about it here We saw a street performer and some interesting buildings, but we were unable to go to the Kiyomizudera temple (check it out here). We walked that direction, but the temple was already closed for the day. It gets dark so early in Japan, so the sun was already down by the time we arrived near the temple. During the wintertime, there are illuminations at the temple, so there was a looong line of people waiting for tickets to get in.

Kyoto - Nijo Castle

Nijo Castle is another World Heritage site in Kyoto. You can read about it here. It was really cool! There is a lot to see as the property is quite large. We rode a bus from the Kinkakuji temple to the Nijo Castle. The bus was super crowded! We were warned about that, but there was literally NO ROOM left on that bus but people kept boarding. After being smooshed on the ride, it was nice to walk around the castle. You aren't supposed to take photos inside the castle.

Kyoto - Kinkakuji Temple

The Kinkakuji temple is also known as the Golden Pavilion. You can read about it here. The woman at the train station suggested taking a little tram from the bamboo forest area towards the Golden Pavilion. We saw a woman dressed as a geisha on our walk to the tram station. The Golden Pavilion is a quick stop on a sightseeing tour, since there isn't that much to see other than the outside of the Golden Pavilion building.

Kyoto - Tenryuji Temple

We walked to the Tenryuji temple. It is one of the World Heritage sites in Kyoto. You can read about it here. There is a trail on the side of the mountain, so you can overlook the lake and temple buildings. You can take your shoes off and tour one of the main buildings, but we didn't do that. We just ate some mochi while we sat outside. We brought the mochi with us, but there is a small restaurant at the temple. I don't know if it was vegetarian-friendly, so we didn't stop there. The leaves are turning colors this time of year, so there were tourists everywhere to get photos of the trees.