Kimonos in Kyoto

I whipped down from Tokyo to Kyoto on a bullet train this morning and fell in love! Kyoto is certainly the jewel of Japan.

We pulled into an amazing new sleek station with 11 levels of shops, restaurants, and beautiful views for everyone to enjoy. Although I hear there is some resistance to the modern station design in the country's most historic city, I think it is magnificent! The climax for me was seeing a Cafe du Monde! I was thrilled to have some hot beignets on the other side of the world from New Orleans!

I threw my backpack in a locker and headed out to see some of the more than 2000 temples and shrines, palaces, gardens and museums. Kyoto has 17 UNESCO World Heritage Sites! Luckily Setsuko and Masaki helped me narrow down the list. First, I hopped on a bus (and learned that you board in the back and pay $2.20 as you leave through the front) to Kiyomizu-dera. I walked up a hill (actually a gauntlet of souviner shops--called Teapot Lane) and was treated to a great view of a spectacular bright orange gate and it just got better and better. The area was on a hillside and temples and shrines just peacefully hung in the woods. I'm becoming at home in Buddhist temples. I washed my hands and mouth in the water (to purify), pulled incense over my head to make me smarter (holding my breath of course), bowed three times at the alter... It is a very calm and peaceful ritual.

I weaved my way around the Eastern hills and traditional streets lined with wooden houses, elegant shops and teahouses, seeing several more temples and shrines. There were so many women wearing kimonos--it was a picture perfect setting. I passed a massive Buddha who must have been eight stories high just tucked away on the hillside. I also walked around the Kodai-ji, which was founded in the 1600's by a noble woman in honor of her late husband. After her husband died, she became a Buddhist nun (I didn't know Buddhists had nuns!). The shrines and teahouses were lovely. I walked through a bamboo forest where the trees were as big as redwoods. OK, maybe oaks, but I didn't know bamboo got that big. They even had the perfectly raked pebbles that I've been wanting to see. I wonder how long it takes to rake?