Temples, Shrines and Shopping

We went to visit a Buddhist temple complex yesterday morning.  It wasn't the one we had intended to visit. We had the name wrong and ended up in this one instead.  It was a lucky find.  They were having some sort of celebration and one of the temple buildings was open for visitors to the central shrine.

In order to visit you had to climb, bare-footed, up some very wide, quite steep stairs. No photography allowed, not even of the view. I understand no photography in the shrine, although I would have liked a picture of the Buddha  and his saints (who all had green halos) if I could have bought one. But I do think that photos of the view should have been allowed.  If I am up high then I want photos to show that I have managed to get up high!

Anyway, back on the ground we wandered around and admired the buildings and gardens.

This was the building we climbed up to visit the shrine.
We were between the two roof canopies.

Right. Really we had wanted to show Wendy the Shinto gardens and shrines that we had visited last year, near to where we had been staying.  We located it on a map and set off.  At one point we paused to consider which was the best way for us to go.  A lady materialised by our sides and addressed Lindsey (who was looking at the map on her phone) and asked in Japanese where we wanted to go.  Lindsey showed her and pointed to the route we were intending to take.  No, no, said she.  And she gathered us up and took off along a back route.  Up many stairs, along upward paths, around the back of the high school, up up and up.  Chattering all along in Japanese.  Eventually we reached the road where the shrine and grounds were located and she turned back and disappeared. Lindsey *thinks* that she walks her dogs along that route. "And, come to think of it, why weren't you joining in the conversation. You can speak as much Japanese as I, Lindsey can. " That might have been because the helpful lady had latched on to Lindsey and had more or less galloped up the hills, stairs and steep paths taking Lindsey with her.  Wendy and I were taking it all much more slowly!!!

It was a beautiful day for looking at the shrine and gardens.  And clearly demonstrated that if you move away from the well known sites, you will find some beautiful places with far fewer people in them. We found this place purely because we saw a sign last year and followed it to see what was there. 

We took the train into central Kyoto and went to the Nishiki "market" for a wander through the shops and arcades.  It was lots of fun but the offerings are quite expensive.  I suppose that is what you would expect in an area largely populated by tourists. Even so, I bought a new backpack, which had been one of my ambitions for this trip. 

Then we returned to the house. My fitbit says that I achieved 21k steps, 41 storeys and 13.5 km. I was quite glad to sit down for the evening and not move very much!

Photo taken by (another) Helpful Stranger