Senso-ji Temple - Japan trip day 5

The previous post in this series is here.

From the Imperial palace we were dropped off at the Senso-ji temple entrance. In the middle of a busy street you get a temple entrance with a giant bell. Once you go past the bell, it is like stepping into Narnia from a cupboard. The rows of shops and the decor transport you to a different time!

The Senso-ji temple complex is beautiful. All of us prayed there the way the locals taught us. We got some ice-cream on the way back and did some shopping in the stores for candy. I tried my best to take photos without folks in them. You can see in the photos how much of a challenge it is.

There was a wedding photo shoot going on as well !! (you can see that in the photos)

A video highlight

After we walked out of the Senso-ji temple, we decided to cover the next attraction we had planned to see in Tokyo..will cover that in the next post.

Imperial Palace in Tokyo - Day 5 of Japan trip

The previous post in this series is here..

We took an Uber to get to the Imperial palace. The driver told us that we were better off going from one of the less crowded gates. So we walked into the palace area. It was amazing to see such wide open spaces in the middle of the bustling city.

There were bamboo gardens, flower gardens and a lot of cherry blossoms that were just falling.

We had a great time walking through the gardens. The actual palace was closed to public but a replica was there for us to see. It started drizzling and we came out of a different gate to save time. A short wait later we were off to our next sightseeing stop. We were going to try our luck with the weather.

Here are the photos..

A video of the Imperial palace visit..

At this point Claritins were popped. We were happy to see Cherry blossoms again!

Then we waited for an Uber to take us to our next tourist stop. It was a good idea to get an extra day in Tokyo!

The Golden pavilion or Kinkaku-ji Temple in Kyoto

The previous post in this series is here..

After leaving Nara, we came back to Kyoto and I had three places to see in Kyoto mainly from a photographic interest. One was an ancient street which was supposed to be captured at golden hour, the other was the Golden pavilion and the third was downtown Kyotos main shopping street.

The cloud were everywhere and it was drizzling and there was going to be no golden hour. So historic preserved street wasn’t going to happen. We had to go back to the shopping area in the evening anyways.

so that left the Golden Pavilion or Kinkaku-ji temple. It is a gold covered Buddha temple in the middle of a lake on a hill.

We took two cabs and went straight from the station to the temple, stood in line and got tickets. Then it started pouring. There was a large crowd there to see the temple and every umbrella was dripping on to other peoples feet. There should be a minimum umbrella distance maintained and it was not to be. With wet shoes we were walking around the lake still trying to take pictures and joking around. It was a memorable experience although not a great one. As a group we generated fun. That is the best way to put it. Then again we could be in a gulag and still generate fun. We were just happy traveling together.

This temple is absolutely breathtaking. Even in that rain. Here are the photos.. from all sides of the lake that we were allowed to see!

We walked around the lake, took pictures and walked down the hill to a restaurant scouted by Jr. It was supposed to be a popular vegan place. Yet again, as her luck would have it, it was closed! So we found another place a block away which had vegetarian options in the menu. I ate a plain brown rice noodle (it was just unflavored sevai) while the rest of the group had soup, salad and noodles. We got an Uber XL and stopped at the shopping district. It was early evening already, but the group had at least had something to eat and we were done with sight seeing on a schedule.

A short video highlight of our Kinkaku-ji temple visit.

The next post is definitely a social study..