Kyoto, Japan

Today was an interesting day. We were supposed to be able to go through Japanese customs and leave the ship around 8am. It turned out that there was a problem with one of the engines overnight and our arrival was delayed by 2 hours. We had hired a local guide for the day so Paul had to contact her about the delay. We were already in the customs line (the customs officials boarded the ship and cleared us all before we went ashore) when the delay announcement was made and we didn’t want to lose our spot in line so we stayed there for the 2 hours, chatting with other passengers. Could have been worse.

We ported at Maizuru, which is about 90 minutes away from Kyoto, our actual destination. We were driven in to Kyoto and returned by train. We managed to fit a lot into our day despite being shorted 2 hours.

We started at Kinkaku-ji Temple, also known as the Golden Pavillion. The main building is covered in actual gold foil squares. It overlooks a pond and is absolutely stunning. It is a Buddhist temple. The original building was burned down hundreds of years ago by a monk but was later rebuilt. On the grounds around this are teahouses, ponds, and gardens.

We then headed to Nijo Castle, which was originally built in 1603 with later additions made over time. The main building is the Ninomaru Palace. It has 33 large rooms covered with wall paintings. The fun part about going through this palace is the floors. The floors in the hallways were designed to make a specific noise as you walk on them so that no one could sneak in. It’s not your usual wooden floor squeaks, its a chirp. Because of this it is called a Nightingale floor. Good luck walking through unannounced!

We walked up a busy, steep, old street that is part of the Higashiyama District. This is a shopping area that leads up to the Kiyomizu-dera Temple. If you want some green tea ice cream, this is the place for you! The street was quite crowded, although our guide said it is usually much more so. There were quite a few women in kimonos. Our guide said that they are Chinese tourists who rent the kimonos for the days. The Kiyomizu-dera Temple is an impressive wooden structure, originally made without nails. There is a Shinto Shrine accessed from the temple grounds. It is mostly associated with young couples in love. In this shrine there are two rocks that are said to guarantee luck in love if one can walk from one to the other with your eyes closed. If you require direction from others it means that you will need their help in love as well.

We drove up to the massive entrance of Chion-in Temple which was used in the filming of the Last Samurai. We also walked through the Yasaka Shrine and the Geisha District (Gion-san). We ended with a quick trip to the Toji Temple. It is the tallest wooden pagoda in Japan. Quite impressive.