Kyoto (1)

Just 2 hours in the famous high speed train Shinkansen, and here I am in Kyoto, where it is raining buckets during the first evening, and for the beginning of the following morning, but it won't prevent me from starting the visits with my rain coat, crossing the fingers that it won't last.

 

As some of you might already start getting fed up with pictures of temples, I will try to show you something else today (in addition to more temples and more cherry trees...).

The first hours of the day are spent around the main station, in order to visit the following temples:
- Higashi-Honganji
- Nishi-Honganji
- Toji and its five-storied pagoda, built in the 12th century

 

 

 

Then I take a train in order to go to Arashiyama, a few kilometers west of Kyoto.

 

 

(that was the first snack of the day, not sure what it is exactly, but it tasted like some kind of chewy rice balls with 3 different flavours: cherry blossom, soy milk, matcha)

The next direction will be Ninnaji, Ryoanji and Kinkakuji Temples.

(second snack of the day: octopus fritters)

And here is the Golden Pavillion of Kinkakuji, covered in gold leaf.

 

If you want, at the end of the visit, you can have a soft ice cream with gold powder...

Last stop for today: the Nijo Castle, at the center of the city

Here, everything is perfectly well organized, even for letting your umbrellas at the entrance:

 

For dinner, I head to the Nishiki Food Market, and will let you guess what I actually had for dinner...