yes they liked big gates

the house was pretty impressive too

but this is the style i like

What about that to look at each day?

pretty

Well Kyoto

A city of Temples, Shrines and a really confusing bus system.

Whilst the lonely planet guide describes it as an efficient system it is only when you can find the right bus to get on at the right stop. And those stops can be a little harder to find than the maps they hand out would have you believe.

Which is why Alessandra and I spent 3 hours getting to a temple and Zen garden which is about 500m from the one we had just visited!!!

When we couldn't work it out we retraced our steps and caught the bus from the start point. Sheesh.

But other than that minor glitch and our $80 breakfast (hey the views were sensational and the food pretty good), a mistake we won't be making twice, the day was excellent.

The day started with a visit to Nijo-jo a fuedal palace built in 1603 with squeaking nightingale floors to allow the detection of intruders and 400 year old paintings on the walls of the rooms used since that time. Quite spectacular and massive.

From there it was a bus ride to Kinkaku-ji the golden temple. And it is just as spectacular up close as the photos depict. Wonderous to see it covered in gold leaf and the gardens are just as nice. Clipped to within an inch of their life, just as I like them.

From there after the legendary bus journey we made it to the quintessential Zen garden at Ryoan-ji. This arrangement of 15 rocks in a sea of white gravel, laid down sometime between 1333 and 1576 is spellbinding.

From there with a bit of luck we caught a local train with no other tourists and made our way to the renowned bamboo grove next to the temple of Tenryu-ji. Amazing to wander through and photographs do not do it justice.

We managed to make it back to the hotel by a mixture of bus and train and then after viewing the state of origin highlights made our way downstairs for a soba dinner. Another tick to the japanese experience. Regarded as the staple meal of Japan. Buckwheat noodles in stock. made more delicious by the addition of a couple of tempura prawns which were very tasty.

A big day and hopefully off to Hiroshima tomorrow if I can work out the JR lines we need to take to get there.