Kyoto, Japan 8-11 October (Day 3)/last morning

On day three, we headed out with another family.
We went to the 10,000 Torii gates first.  This place is mesmerizing.  Each torii gate costs thousands of dollars.  They are purchased by families and businesses for luck and prosperity.

Going into the park

This was a one-man play at the shrine

Heading up the path to the gates.

There are fox statues everywhere.

There is great respect for the fox. There are many statues throughout the park.

If you can lift the stone your wish will come true.  The only reason we understood this was because it was on an episode of "House."  Caroline and I are House junkies thanks to my sister Mary.

 The sun was shining through the trees and gates.  An art class was outside the path painting.  The weather was beautiful that day.

There were many smaller shrines outside the path, along the mountain.

From here, we headed to the path of philosophy that leads to the Silver Pavilion.

There is a shrine or temple about every block and a half there.  I have to admit, we got burned out on so many beautiful places to stop and look at.  Here is Okazki Temple.  Just a typical temple on the side of the road on the way to the path of philosophy.

Here are some shots from the Path of Philosophy that leads to the entrance to the Silver Pavilion.

We stopped at a shop and got Caroline her kimono.  She has been wanting one for a bathrobe.  This one was perfect.

These were the kids we were hanging around with during the tour.  Great kids (their dad is in the background).  It was great for Caroline to have kids her own age.  They were great fun.

Below are just typical scenes from the path...

We made it to Silver Pavilion.  It is Ginkakuju Temple (Golden Pavilion is Kinkakuju Temple in Japanese).

Silver Pavilion

Golden Pavilion gets a lot of attention, but we loved the grounds of the Silver Pavilion much more.  Really peaceful.

 It was about 5pm by this time.  Caroline and I did not want to go home.   Instead, there is a huge shopping area in the center of the city.  We said good-bye to our friends.  We took a bus and headed there.

Just wanted to share some photos of the massive Kyoto station across the street from the hotel.  We stopped by for last minute shopping the morning that we left to go back to Okinawa.  Great shopping there.  You can catch anything from there.  And, like everything in Japan, clean, clean, clean.

Caroline and I climbed these stairs to get to the lookout.  There was worker vacuuming each step.

Kyoto was the most beautiful city that I have ever seen.  I am coming back.  The only downside was that I missed Bill like crazy.