Day 7 ...
This was our last day in Kyoto. The city is amazing and is home to more than 2000
temples and shrines. We wish we had more time for this beautiful city.
We visited Nishiki Market – several blocks of alleys serving all manner of foods, desserts, and beverages – in the early morning and waited as the market opened up and came to life. We watched the bakers and fishmongers and all variety of chefs create their delicious foods. The display and aroma of the endless feast made it hard to choose. So, we had sample-sized ports of just about everything. Meats on skewers, sushi, oysters, dumplings, octopus, bread, pastries … we ate like happy pigs! Perhaps the best breakfast ever. Nishiki Market is popular with tourists and the locals.
We then visited the shrine at the end of the market called Nishit Tenmangu Shrine. Like other temples and shrines, there is a water fountain at the entrance so visitors can cleanse themselves prior to entering. There is a metal cow statue next to the fountain. We can tell a lot of the faithful have been touching the cow's nose for “good luck” because the statue looks like it has just been polished.
From the "which one of these is not like the other" department, there is a Wendy’s just outside the shrine. That's just wrong on many levels. Of note, Wendy's in Japan serves spaghetti. That may not be wrong, but it certainly isn't right!
Next, we visited Nanzenji Temple. It is famous for Zen gardens and its aqueduct system, which is still active and serves the local area. Originally, it was the Emperor Kameyama’s retirement home and later became a Zen temple. We went through a giant gate (sanmon) to enter the temple. We were lucky because we are allowed to go up to the gate’s balcony to get a nice view of the temple complex.
There are several large Zen gardens inside the complex. The raked gravel represents a flowing river, and several rocks resemble a lioness and her cubs getting ready to cross it. It was quite relaxing to experience it as a tourist among tourists. I can only imagine how mentally restoring this place was as a private residence.
On to Tokyo in the morning ...
This was our last day in Kyoto. The city is amazing and is home to more than 2000
temples and shrines. We wish we had more time for this beautiful city.We visited Nishiki Market – several blocks of alleys serving all manner of foods, desserts, and beverages – in the early morning and waited as the market opened up and came to life. We watched the bakers and fishmongers and all variety of chefs create their delicious foods. The display and aroma of the endless feast made it hard to choose. So, we had sample-sized ports of just about everything. Meats on skewers, sushi, oysters, dumplings, octopus, bread, pastries … we ate like happy pigs! Perhaps the best breakfast ever. Nishiki Market is popular with tourists and the locals.
We then visited the shrine at the end of the market called Nishit Tenmangu Shrine. Like other temples and shrines, there is a water fountain at the entrance so visitors can cleanse themselves prior to entering. There is a metal cow statue next to the fountain. We can tell a lot of the faithful have been touching the cow's nose for “good luck” because the statue looks like it has just been polished.
From the "which one of these is not like the other" department, there is a Wendy’s just outside the shrine. That's just wrong on many levels. Of note, Wendy's in Japan serves spaghetti. That may not be wrong, but it certainly isn't right!
Next, we visited Nanzenji Temple. It is famous for Zen gardens and its aqueduct system, which is still active and serves the local area. Originally, it was the Emperor Kameyama’s retirement home and later became a Zen temple. We went through a giant gate (sanmon) to enter the temple. We were lucky because we are allowed to go up to the gate’s balcony to get a nice view of the temple complex.
There are several large Zen gardens inside the complex. The raked gravel represents a flowing river, and several rocks resemble a lioness and her cubs getting ready to cross it. It was quite relaxing to experience it as a tourist among tourists. I can only imagine how mentally restoring this place was as a private residence.
On to Tokyo in the morning ...
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