Last Day in Japan

We were suppose to do an entire day tour. The morning portion was great and we saw three different palaces, temples, and pagodas! We have seen quite a few now in the orient being in China and Korea...but we both agree that the ones in Kyoto were our favorites! Our favorite with our tour group was this Gold Pavilion called the Rokuon-ji Temple, built in the 1220s. (Excuse the floozy showing her bra strap please!) :) After our morning tour we ended up at this 7 story shopping center. We had lunch here and that is when I discovered that the 7th floor was a Japanese Craft center where you could make your own Japanese crafts! I asked Marc if we could cancel the second part of our tour and stay and play! So we did. :) I WAS IN HEAVEN! I TRULY have the most patient husband ever.

While Marc held Ana so she could take her nap, I made this "gold dusting" picture. (For 1.5 hrs)

I made a cherry blossom picture with the Gold Rokuon-ji Temple on it AND they helped me write STITZEL in Japanese. SOOOO cool!

That symbol on the top means "love". I had a BLAST! I could have spent all day there. There were 6 different crafts you could make. I talked with one man who had been there for 4 hours and had made 7 different things. FUN!

Then we used Barasch's rusty trusty Frommers "Japan" guide book and did a walking tour by ourselves after Banana woke up. We saw our most favorite temple ever! The Kiyomizu Temple. It was a BEAUTIFUL area that had amazing views of the city of Kyoto. This temple was built into a cliff and you just have to be in awe of the craftsmanship of people with NO MODERN TOOLS. This area with the temple and pagoda and shrines etc was all built in 798. AMAZING!

This is the view of Kyoto and that building in the upper right hand corner is the "main hall" of the temple. This was a great vacation and if you ever have the opportunity to travel to Japan, don't pass it up!!