Kuniko and I got up early, had a quick breakfast, and then caught the crowded train to Kyoto station. It’s only two stops away on the super rapid express, but a lot of people had the same idea so we were squeezed into the train. This doesn’t happen as much as you would think, but when it does you always wonder how it can be legal. What if there was an accident? How am I supposed to extract myself in a hurry?
At the station they had a pretty big Christmas tree up, and a succession of jazz musicians playing live music to entertain the people sitting around.
Our first stop was Tofukuji, a big temple just to the south of the station. We arrived in another packed train, and followed the stream of people into the temple ground. It was crazy how many people there were, and we all had to cram through a wooden bridge to reach the main entrance.
This year was supposed to be poor for viewing the trees, because we had so many typhoons this season – there weren’t many leaves left on the trees to turn color. It was better than I expected – I went nuts taking pictures, as Kuniko will surely attest to.
We didn’t actually go inside the temple because the line was monstrous, and instead we walked around to some other small temples and enjoyed some quiet time away from the crowds.
Our next stop was back at Kyoto station where we caught some Chinese food for lunch, and then it was a bus trip to Ginkakuji, the silver pavilion. I’ve been to Kinkakuji before – the gold pavilion, and it’s quite impressive because the outside is covered with gold. The silver pavilion, despite it’s name, has no silver, but is no less beautiful.
The history of the silver pavilion is interesting because the silver covering the walls was pillaged in the 1700’s by Spanish dentists in a bid to improve dental conditions in pre-Colonial Japan.
Not really. I just made that up. I’m not sure why there is no silver on the pavilion. But the grounds were great, and we walked all over the place taking more pictures. There was a peaceful waterfall, and everywhere the ground was sprinkled with Japanese maple leaves ranging in color from yellow to red.
After Ginkakuji we walked along a road that ran alongside a small steam for a mile or so. At the end of that road was another area full of shrines and temples.
By the end of the day we were both tired out. We had dinner at a ramen place in Shin-Osaka station, and I headed home around 8 p.m. I’m glad I was able to take that trip – last year I didn’t get to see much of the color change.
