We started our day with our usual visit to 7/11 for breakfast. The kids had cinnamon bites and chocolate milk almost every morning during our trip. By the end they were asking for something healthier, haha! Day 4 was a busy one. We had 3 sites to see! First was the Fushimi Inari Shrine…better known for its hundreds of torii gates.
As we walked up to the shrine there was this setup next to it.
Rich washed his hands but wouldn’t drink.
We saw this person doing the endless job of sweeping the rocks off of the sidewalk…
Gift shop
Off to the gates
More bamboo
More gates
After we had our fill of torii gates we made our way to the Water Temple. All of these places have such extravagant entrances.
I’m not exactly sure what all of the other buildings are but this is the actual temple, it’s called Kiyomizudera.
On the other side there was this fountain where people would fill the cup, wash their hands and then take a drink. Then they would turn around and pray where the little shrine is behind them. In some of these places I felt bad because to many Japanese these temples and shrines are places of prayer and yet there were so many tourists(us) taking pictures and videos.
This day was a busy one for us. It was our last day in Kyoto and we clearly saved the best for last. Our next stop was the Silver Pavilion.
The pavilion itself was not what was impressive to us but the gardens were what made this stop one of our all time favorites.
While we were posing for the above picture there was a gardener behind the cameraman tending to the garden. I have no idea what he was picking but he was on his hands and knees and very meticulously picking through the moss. It was really cool to see the care that went in to making that beautiful place what it was. That same gardener was really excited to show the kids what he had caught.
I had never seen such a beautiful and vibrant green as we saw in these gardens. Pictures don’t do it justice.
Our last stop of the day was the Golden Pavilion. This was our favorite pavilion! When you walk around the corner and see it for the first time it is breathtaking.
Kids with their tickets.
I can’t believe all that we had seen just 4 days in! I remember Rich and I talking at the end of this day and just being so excited about the day we had and almost unbelieving of how much more we still had to do and see. You can’t have a day like this day and not feel complete joy.
We spent the rest of this day driving to our next destination on our itinerary which was Hyogo near Osaka. These were our sleeping arrangements in a local home.
Caught up on some laundry.
No toilet in this one, just a squatty potty.
We got a good nights sleep for our next busy day.
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