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We had another big lay-in again today, it seems like we do this alot thinking back over the blogs but we are just shattered every evening and morning. You either don't get a great nights sleep, got up early for something or you were non-stop walking or travelling the day before.
We headed over to the historic geisha district of Gion, if you've read the book "Memoirs of Geisha" this is were it was based. The district still looks authentic and Geisha's work there, though we would be very lucky to see a real one! The shops, restaurants and tea houses look like a film set. It is a beautiful area to explore especially after reading the book or watching the film. You can imagine what Kyoto looked like before the war. But with anywhere in Japan there are always tons of people so it does lose alittle bit of charm, especially with the tourists renting out Kimonos to wear around town to have mini photoshoots.
After Gion we followed a path through a park and in to an area with different shrines and temples. Kyoto is the cultural capital of Japan with hundreds of shrines and temples all over the city, this dates back to the time when Kyoto was the capital. There is even a shrine in a shopping complex! The path led us past historical shrines, up narrow streets lined with traditional shops and finally up to a temple over looking the city. It was a magical walk around, as the place is covered in culture and history, but you do have to get used to the crowds.
We turned off the footpath away from the groups of people to a different temple, our previous ones are wooden with bright colours and similar shrines inside. This temple cost, but it was worth it! We had to remove our shoes and we were not allowed to take photographs inside sadly. The main temple was a huge hall stretching at least a length of football field, instead of bright colours the hall was a dark natural wood. Spanning the whole length of the hall were five rows of golden painted Buddhist guardians. They were all identical; it was difficult to comprehend the time and effort that must have gone in to create them. Sat in the middle of statues was a gigantic golden Buddha. They were also had statues of Shinto guardians and generals. It was explained who they were and what you would pray to them for. What was interesting is the guardians and generals had a mix of Hindu and Indian Buddhist beliefs connected to them. When outside we explored the small quiet gardens and a traditional bell was rug in the courtyard to tell us it was time to leave, which made us jump!
Finally we caught the subway back to the Gion area and went to our room to relax before heading out later around the shops. We found a restaurant that sold soba noodles and tempara, which was something we hadn't tried yet together. Nicole was brave and chose a random alcoholic drink on the menu to go with the food. It was seriously strong and tasted like tequila! The waitress did look shocked when we ordered it. Later we had cake in a Lipton cafe, we decided to have the green tea and chocolate one, they have green tea in everything from ice cream to cake and sweets. It was nice but I doubt it would be a favourite at home!
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