Wolfe's Home: Kyoto

WARNING: This is another picture heavy post! Today was an all day event. Dad and Mom only live about an hour away from Kyoto, Japan's second capital. There are over three thousand Shinto shrines, and over three thousand Buddhist temples in Kyoto. There are several World Heritage Sites, as well. It is a city packed with history, Japanese culture, and tourists. So we took off at nine this morning and didn't pull into home until after seven this evening. We spent a lot of time in the car with traffic, but it was a fun day to see some Japanese culture.

No, this wasn't a coffee shop, just a cafe. Hmmm...

Our first stop was Kinkakuji, the Golden Pavilion, one of the many World Heritage Sites in Kyoto. It dates from the 1300s during feudal times. It's a zen temple and the top two floors are completely covered in gold leaf. The grounds are beautiful.

My Thinker on the Philosopher's Stone:

I think the kids' favorite part was after the walk around the temple. There were shops with yummy samples, including green tea with gold flecks in it!

Dad was our wonderful driver for the day. He's waiting on his new hip (next month!), so just dropped us off at entrances, and waited at the exits for us.

Loved our udon lunch!

Our second main stop was at Nijo Castle, another WHS. Below is just a corner of the wall around the castle. This site was built in 1603 and was the "villa" of a major shogun. He couldn't live in a residence "above" the emperor, so it's only a one story palace. It's very sprawling, and quite amazing inside. Unfortunately no photographs were allowed inside. Okay, okay...so I tried to sneak a picture discreetly on my phone, but apparently the curators have pretty keen eyes. Oops!

One of the unique (and very cool!) things about the palace is that all of the multiple separate buildings are connected by corridors with "nightingale floors". They totally squeak with every step, so as to alert the residents to intruders. We had to take our shoes off to walk through the corridors, and I thought it was great fun to hear the floors. Apparently, Johanna and Ami did too, as they decided to bounce up and down a little bit on the floor. Another curator quickly reprimanded them! Oops again!

Again, the grounds were beautiful and immaculately kept. Below, in all seriousness, this a Japanese lawn mower! This gardener was on her hands and knees pulling grass up by bits and pieces. Can you imagine? The grounds were vast!

A stop for afternoon ramune....the Japanese soda in a bottle with the marble at the top.

"Sword fighting" with their new keychain souvenirs:

Along with no extra bouncing on the floors, no graffiti is allowed either. :)

Here's for my friend, Jeff:

Not so sure about getting my hair done here. Maybe the idea is that they can color your grey hair. :)

I didn't purchase this souvenir, although I do find sumo somewhat entertaining. It wasn't just the $60 price tag that discouraged me.

Hmmm, Western or Japanese style are the choices. I've had my share of squatty potties, so Western it is.

Another place we visited was the Handicraft Center. There are all sorts of traditional crafts on display and for sale, and from time to time you can observe the artisans at their work. This was the woodblock printing area. Such a neat art, but one we didn't get to see in action.

We did watch this guy creating Damascene. He's been at it for 50 years! It's the art of inlaying gold and silver into other metals as pieces of jewelry. It's very time consuming, and very expensive, but oh so beautiful. It originated in Damascus, Syria, thus the name.