Of course, I woke up early again 3:30 this time. I went down for breakfast at 6:30 with my in-laws. The buffet at the New Miyako was fantastic! My favorite breakfast place so far. There was no mistaking the weather out side...it was POURING RAIN! We're talking cats and dogs here! I had been wearing a dress but after we saw how windy and rainy it was out there I decided run back to my room to change into Capri pants and a t-shirt - I'm glad I did because it was raining sideways! I also had a rain jacket, baseball hat and umbrella...yeah, I came prepared! Our tour started at 8:00 in the lobby. We were picked up by a motor coach and tour guide. Our first stop was the same temple that Charles, Noreen and I found the day before. But this time we went inside. It was beautiful.... however, it was pouring rain so I was soaked at the first stop ....and you have to take your shoes off which were wet because the grounds were flooded so, socks shoes and feet soaked....plus back, front and side soaked...umbrellas can only do so much in a monsoon!
The second stop was Nijo Castle which was the residence of the first Tokugawa Shogun.....AMAZING. The nightingale floors were brilliant. We weren't allowed to take any photos inside here but it was one of my favorite places that we visited on the entire trip. I did get a few photos of the garden area...the very wet garden area.
The third stop was Kinkakuji Temple - known as The Golden Pavilion. I was very much looking forward to seeing this but really wished it wasn't raining so hard. If you take a look at my photos you can see how grey and foggy it was. Not idealistic for taking photos of a lifetime.
Next we went to lunch which just was ok. It was a buffet and the choices were pretty slim (I'm allergic to shellfish and most everything had fish in it). Definitely not as good as the lunch we had at the Chinzanso Hotel on the Tokyo tour. But, the dessert was yummy. I sat with Charles and Noreen and now I realize Noreen was probably bored because Charles and I were NASA talkin' LOL. After lunch we had some free time to explore and there was an area right next door to the restaurant with some shrines, tori gates and temples so my father in law and I took a stroll over and I'm really glad we did because it was beautiful. I found out later that Charles had gone on to see the crafts museum. I would have enjoyed seeing that as well. But we had limited time after lunch.
After lunch we boarded the tour bus and had a new tour guide named Mickey. The rest of the tour was AMAZING! Not only because the sun actually came out and the weather became BEAUTIFUL (sunny and cool with a nice breeze) but because the places we saw on the second half of the tour were the best part of the tour AND because Mickey was THE BEST tour guide we had on the entire trip!
We went to the Heian Jingu Shrine. I fell in LOVE here. Not only was the shrine itself beautiful but the garden was jaw dropping. They actually filmed Memoirs of a Geisha here. You may recognize the bridge in my photos from the film.
The next stop was Sanjusengen-do Temple which houses the 1001 statues of Buddha deity. Another jaw dropping experience that we were not allowed to take photographs of! I did google it and here is a photo that came up on google.com -- I did NOT take this photo as we were warned incessantly to NOT even attempt it! You really cannot tell from the photo how incredible this was.
The final stop took us to another gorgeous site called Kiyomizudera Temple and it was accessed by a place that Mickey called the "Road of Temptation" because it's full of gift shops! My mother in law and I went with the group up the big hill to see the first few temples...but declined to join them on the trek down and around the hill because we wanted to shop! So we simply turned around and walked back down the way we came up.
BEST TOUR GUIDE EVER!!!
After this stop the tour was over. The motor-coach dropped us off at our hotel and it was about 5:30. We were all getting hungry for dinner so, my father in law and I decided to go to Tony Romas! My mother in law and Charles went for sushi. After dinner I did a little bit of shopping and then went back to my room. It was a LONG day and I was exhausted.
Next post can be found here: Monday - Day 8 - Gion
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