Another full day of sight seeing ahead of us we hit up Starbucks at the hotel and set off, this time
by bus. The agenda today included the Ginkakuji or commonly known as the Silver Pavilion, then the Kinkaku- Ji or the Golden Palace and lastly the Nijo region. In Nijo there is a Shogun castle that was home to many Samurai over the centuries. That was more impressive than many of the other Shrines or Temples that we visited so far.The Silver Pavilion had an enormous Zen garden that included huge sand & rock gardens and a beautiful little pond surrounded by the same type of trees traditionally seen in the gardens. It also has a trail of rock stairs that led you through the gardens and up the hills with a bamboo railing. Flowing throughout the garden was a waterway that I suppose used to bring water to the individual temples. Once up in the hills the trail 
provided another breathtaking view of the premises and overlooked the neighboring town. I got to peek inside a typical classroom for whatever teachings that went on in the temples. Similar to most of the other places we visited Cherry Blossom trees littered the area but looked more like trees out of a scary movie do to the fact that it was winter. The Silver Pavilion was one of the few places that had bamboo growing in plain sight of each of the temples.
provided another breathtaking view of the premises and overlooked the neighboring town. I got to peek inside a typical classroom for whatever teachings that went on in the temples. Similar to most of the other places we visited Cherry Blossom trees littered the area but looked more like trees out of a scary movie do to the fact that it was winter. The Silver Pavilion was one of the few places that had bamboo growing in plain sight of each of the temples.We stopped by the imperial palace of Kyoto on the way to the Golden Palace but since it was not open we only got to stroll through the not so impressive gardens. The Golden Palace is not golden in name only, it is a temple set right on the lake that was literally coated with a golden leaf lacquer. It was a bright sunny day so the entire temple sparkled and glistened. If only it weren’t so windy there would have been a reflection off the water. No one was allowed inside the temple or even remotely close, but that certainly did not take away from the beauty and grandeur of the temple. Of course, it is accompanied by rock gardens, waterfalls and other symbolic statues.
The last spot of the day was the Shogun Castle in the Nijo district. This was particularly interesting to me because for those of you that don’t know Shogun is essentially the king of all
Samurais. At the main gate you walk through my first thought was that the Shogun might be held in higher regard than even the Emperor. The gates were just as imposing as the rest, with big strong solid doors but this time they were accented by beautiful golden works of art including dragons, peacocks, cranes and other symbolic animals. The gates are complimented by massive temples, which are uniquely accentuated by golden pieces of art as well. The main temple was the most spacious of any that I had seen thus far. The huge rooms were decorated with paintings of animals and nature. A thin sliding wooden door separated each of the rooms. Large double-sided wooden carvings that differed from the adjacent room punctuated each one making individually 
different from the next. Unfortunately no pictures were allowed but I managed to sneak a few anyway. The temple’s wooden floors squeaked loudly on every step. A provision taken by the builders in order to allow the warriors inside to hear if someone was sneaking around. The place was thoroughly fortified, including a double moat and extremely high barricaded walls. The Shogun Castle has one of the more extensive gardens that provided the warriors with long peaceful walks with the Shogun.
Following the eventful day we went out to a local restaurant and ate some “new generation Japanese food” as the hotel manager described it to us. As we entered the restaurant we removed our shoes in traditional Japanese fashion and immediately noticed that the floors were actually heated, a nice accommodation for a chilly night in downtown Kyoto. We enjoyed some Curry pizza that was especially delicious, a kind of chicken Kabob, and of course my favorite kind of sushi fried crab and a Yesibu beer to wash it all down. 
After another mini-meal, the Japanese apparently don’t believe in feeling full (nor do my parents at their age), we walked to the hotel through “Fish” street. This is the main fish market of the area. Another day down, we head out to Hiroshima tomorrow, Christmas day oddly enough. Now I will retire to bed dozing off to the appropriately named BS News newscast trying to catch up on what is going on in your end of the world. Hope Santa treats you all well… Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.
GB
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