November 29- Kyoto

First full day in Kyoto! I headed out early this morning because the day was full with a lot of walking and temple-touring. First stop/ The Northern Higashiyana area of the city. This is the area in the mountainous region where there are several lovely temples and gardens to explore. I managed to figure out that for 600 Yen (about $6USD) I can get an all day subway pass. I am a big fan of those passes for several reasons. First is that you don't have to worry about carrying small change and always buying separate tickets. Second (and probably most important) is that when you are new to a city you are going to make mistakes. Take the wrong train, take the wrong exit, you name it. With an all day subway pass it allows for mistakes. You just roll with it!

First stop? Nansen-Ji temple. I took the subway line to the Keage exit and apparently I was riding along with about 150 of my new high school aged boys heading to school. I wanted to asked them if the snazzy jackets with the big "H" emblem stood for Hogwarts. I didn't. But I wanted to!

On to the temple. Hogwarts boys and I separated at the exit of the subway and I headed down the main street following the signs (and my map) towards the temple. You basically walk down the street and then go right and up another hill to the entrance of the temple grounds. Now it was super early in the morning (about 8ish) and that made all the difference. The place was super quiet and except for a few Aisan tourists I had the place to myself. Which was good because not long after the tour buses showed up!  The entrance to the temple grounds is free, but the entrance to the temple gardens (which opened at 8:40) was 500 Yen. I waited with some other folks for the garden to open and chatted up a couple about my age sitting near me. They wanted to know where I was from (America) and more specifically where (Boston- it's way easier than explaining Providence). Everyone apparently in Japan knows Boston- Harvard University and Good Will Hunting. I kid you not.

So The Couple My Age and I enter the temple gardens and he proceeded to tell "Boston" that I needed to remove my shoes, get slippered (yep, Boston can read- the sign was in English) and that this is a very famous temple garden. I can't even tell you how serene and lovely this place was. I took pictures of course but it doesn't do it justice.

After touring the gardens I retrieved my shoes and headed to the front area of the temple again (where I entered). That's when I saw the throng of Hogwarts boys (apparently they do field trips in Japan too?) as well as the tour buses showing up. Time to move on...

Next on the list is the Path of Philosophy (or the Philospher's Path). This is an incredible, pedestrian only path that winds up the mountain area and towards the other "big" temple, Ginkaku-Ji. The path was I have to say one of my favorite walks in Japan. I mean, of course I have to stop and rest because my back pain gets worse the longer I walk. But still, it's awesome and I can totally understand the "zen and reflective" nature of this.

The Ginkaku-Ji temple is another big tourist draw and by the time I got up there it was really crowded. It was lovely and I enjoyed it but honestly I enjoyed Nansen-Ji more. I then walked back down the Path of Philosophy, heading to the subway station where I came in from. All in all, the walk up to the top temple (Ginkaku-Ji) was about 2 miles or so I am guessing. Maybe 3. I'm terrible with distance. But I knew that since it was getting close to lunchtime, the crowds were getting worse and my back was killing me it was time for my mid day rest. I had a big afternoon planned and I needed to rest up for that!