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diamondlifeYesterday was another scorcher! o.o We went to another of the famous temples, Ginkakuji, which again had a nice pond in nice, leafy surroundings - good for strolling around, but not very temple-y, really! Then we proceeded along the Philosophers' Path (I felt right at home there! Ha, yeah right XD) to Heian Jingu and its lovely garden, which was actually pretty peaceful after the herds at Ginkakuji. Heian Jingu is fairly elaborate as shrines go, it:s sort of Chinese-style, but I thought it was very beautiful, and the gardens were expansive and picturesque too.
Then we went to the Kyoto Handicraft Centre - 7 floors of yukata, kimono, woodblock prints and some less classy tat too. XD I picked up a few pressies for people. :3 There:s still a few people I need to buy for - I:ve already jettisoned my shoes and my jeans, but I:ve not got a lot of space left for cramming stuff into the suitcase! ^^;; I guess some people will have to make do with stuff from the airport. Possibly that comes in bottles. ^_~
In the evening we went for a stroll in the old entertainment district, Pontocho, and along the canal. It:s as loud and boisterous as a night out in a British city, but somehow so much less intimidating! (That:s a big part of what I:m not looking forward to about going home - the scary packs of people you get around town, day and night. x_o) We went to a great okonomiyaki place (which was pretty busy and loud, but yeah, not nearly so annoying as back home!) that had lots of choice and an English menu. :9 I still need to go to a supermarket or something and buy tonkatsu sauce and aonori to take home! Tonkatsu sauce is, like, my favourite thing ever. ^^;;
So, my overall impressions of Kyoto? Well, like![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
solaas said, it both lives up to expectation and doesn:t. I:ve seen better temples in pretty much every city I:ve been to - we didn:t see them all, or even all of the most famous ones, but the ones I did see weren:t nearly as good as temples I:ve seen in Koyasan, Kamakura, Nara or even Osaka! I didn:t really get a sense of history in Kyoto, for all its ancient-capital status.
However, as a city, I really liked it. Even though of course it:s heaving with tourists, the parts we explored didn:t feel nearly as tacky as I:d expect, and the modern city was smart and vibrant and pleasant to be in. It:s also frickin: huge. XD It:s definitely somewhere I:d revisit, because there were so many other places we didn:t get a chance to cover, but it:s not at all what I expected.
And now we:re back in Tokyo. ;_; Only two more days left in Japan! I:m so going to cry when I leave. XD
Then we went to the Kyoto Handicraft Centre - 7 floors of yukata, kimono, woodblock prints and some less classy tat too. XD I picked up a few pressies for people. :3 There:s still a few people I need to buy for - I:ve already jettisoned my shoes and my jeans, but I:ve not got a lot of space left for cramming stuff into the suitcase! ^^;; I guess some people will have to make do with stuff from the airport. Possibly that comes in bottles. ^_~
In the evening we went for a stroll in the old entertainment district, Pontocho, and along the canal. It:s as loud and boisterous as a night out in a British city, but somehow so much less intimidating! (That:s a big part of what I:m not looking forward to about going home - the scary packs of people you get around town, day and night. x_o) We went to a great okonomiyaki place (which was pretty busy and loud, but yeah, not nearly so annoying as back home!) that had lots of choice and an English menu. :9 I still need to go to a supermarket or something and buy tonkatsu sauce and aonori to take home! Tonkatsu sauce is, like, my favourite thing ever. ^^;;
So, my overall impressions of Kyoto? Well, like
solaas said, it both lives up to expectation and doesn:t. I:ve seen better temples in pretty much every city I:ve been to - we didn:t see them all, or even all of the most famous ones, but the ones I did see weren:t nearly as good as temples I:ve seen in Koyasan, Kamakura, Nara or even Osaka! I didn:t really get a sense of history in Kyoto, for all its ancient-capital status. However, as a city, I really liked it. Even though of course it:s heaving with tourists, the parts we explored didn:t feel nearly as tacky as I:d expect, and the modern city was smart and vibrant and pleasant to be in. It:s also frickin: huge. XD It:s definitely somewhere I:d revisit, because there were so many other places we didn:t get a chance to cover, but it:s not at all what I expected.
And now we:re back in Tokyo. ;_; Only two more days left in Japan! I:m so going to cry when I leave. XD
