Got up fairly early this morning and headed straight for Kyoto for a day of culture. As we don't read any Japanese we can a little unstuck at the station when trying to decide which train to get on, we got on the one that was terminating at Kyoto but was the local train so stopped absolutely everywhere - at least we knew we were going to end up in Kyoto though!
First stop in Kyoto was the Toji Temple which is a five storied pagoda, the highest in Japan, measuring 187 feet (and a national treasure). Whilst there was also saw statues of the Yakushi Triad and Twelve Heavenly Generals, and a set of twenty one Buddhist statues.
From there we headed for Sanjusangen-do (another national treasure) which has 1001 statues of the Buddhist deity, Kannon, and 28 guardian dieties - also the first place we've had to take our shoes off for! It was amazing but I think Craig was more impressed with the fluorescent orange paint along the outside wall - there will be pictures of that to follow.
Next we jumped on the train to Nijo Castle whch was built at the begining of the 17th Century by the Shogun at the time. The most memorable part of it for me was that the floor boards creak really loudly as you walk down them, it was a security system to hear intruders! There were loads of grounds and gardens so spent a while wondering around them.
Lastly we headed for the Imperial Palace Gardens for a look around. You can only get into the Imperial Palace (former) if you book onto a tour in advance so we had a quick look around the gardens and the wall surrounding the palace.
By this time it was about 5:30 and we were both dead on our feet so we headed back to the station and came back to Osaka. Ready for bed now so photos to follow as and when.
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