Day 12, Kyoto free day

From Savannah:

Today, we had a free day in the beautiful city of Kyoto. Before starting our day, we had to learn quickly how to navigate the Kyoto Bus system, which was very fun. On the bright side, we were going to historical landmarks so there was no way we could get lost. We also had a one-day unlimited bus pass. On the down side, it was a very rainy day. 

We first traveled by bus to the Sanjusangendo Temple. You are allowed to take photos outside of the temple, but you are prohibited from taking photos inside the temple. The temple doesn't allow you to wear shoes inside. When we entered the temple, we were greeted by 500 statues that each had 42 arms that all held something of value. In total, there were 21,000 arms in the temple. Before these statues were deities each representing different aspects of life. On the other side of the temple, there were different weapons and ancient writings. There were also guest buddhas from a different temple. 

Later, we explored the outside of the temple which was very beautiful. We were greeted with beautiful ponds, some shrines, and an extraordinary landscape. We then travelled back to the Kyoto station to have lunch: Tokyo Soup Stock. 

After eating lunch, we rode a 40 minute bus to the Kinkakuji Temple where the main temple was the color of a very bright gold and was surrounded by water filled with koi fish. We then walked around the temple and donated coins to a small shrine. 

After that we shopped around at the souvenir shops around the area and found some cute items. Then we proceeded to head back to Kyoto station to grab some food before we jumped onto the bullet train, that ended up being 2 hours late. 

Finally, we collected ourselves at the Japanese styled Inn we were staying at where we met up with the rest of the group. We were finally on our way to Hiroshima. 

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Guys group + Ashley

We decided to venture across the Kyoto region by bus and visit a temple. At the shrine was a very large golden temple, the highlight of the shrine. It was raining so we didn't stay as long as we otherwise would have, but we took many pictures. 

Tired from the trek through the shine and dealing with tourists - there were A LOT despite the rain - we headed back to Kyoto station, and then back to our inn to dry off. We waited for about an hour until the rain stopped.

We went off to the convenience store to get some food, then the guys headed off to a pachinko parlor and I found a shaded area to wait off the afternoon heat and write a bit more in my journal before heading off to meet with the rest of the group.

While I wrote the guys arrived at the pachinko place and associated it with a casino, so they decided not to go in. Instead, they window-shopped in the underground plaza area in front of Kyoto station and tried some of the various flavors of ice cream. 

- Ashley

Kyoto station: