I think this video is pretty self-explanatory, but I'll be happy to field any further questions.
-ian






p.s. remember to look below at the previous pictures and videos, if you haven't been here in awhile. arigatooo!

More Kyoto!!

Continued from Day one :
These first four pictures are still from Ginkakuji Temple and its garden areas. These trees on the mountain just looked so surreal to me. The hill was very steep so even though this picture is 'straight' on, it looks like I was pointing the camera up. All I know is these are very different forests from the ones I am used to.





This is part of the sand garden. I still don't understand how they stay so perfect. You would think the wind would startle them, but I suppose people spend hours raking and perfecting these gardens. It was impressive, thats for sure.




This was part of the temple, looking in either direction out into the sand gardens surrounding it. I just thought it was a neat little room.





This is the entry way into the temple grounds. The first thing Ian said when he saw the giant hedges was "Wow- this really reminds me of Harry Potter". Meaghan, you would have been proud! Haha



And Finally - We move onto day 2!!

These fist couple pictures are from a place called Heian-jingu, and it is a shine complex. Though they are not originals, they are replicas 2/3rds the size of the original Kyoto Gosho. They were built in 1895 to commemorate the 1100th anniversary of the founding of Kyoto.
They were pretty impressive to look at, but thats about all you could do here, so we moved on fairly quickly - there was too much more to see!





The rest of the pictures posted here are from Nanzen-in and Nanzen-ji. This was possibly our favorite spot while we were there. The Garden, Temple, and surrounding trails and sub-temples were just stunningly beautiful. Its the kind of place the just feel serene. It began as a retirement villa for an emporer and was dedicated as a zen temple when he died in 1291, making it over 700 years old. The grounds were massive, and we ended up spending almost the entire day in this area.
This first picture is a shot of the entry way and the building is called San-Mon: you can tell they really like to build big around here.

This is just one of the many sub-temples that spotted the area. You weren't allowed access to all of them, but they were amazing to look at non-the-less.

This shot if from the garden inside Nanzen-in and I can't begin to tell you how much the shot does NOT do it justice. The pond is heart shaped and has carp swimming through it. There are paths that wind all the way around and up into the mountains where you can hike. Ian and I took advantage of the paths and hiked the the top before we came back down to sit and enjoy the surroundings.

This last picture is from inside Nanzen-ji. Ian called this a perfect dining room and I have to agree. The room is so simple, and the sliding doors open up onto the most beautiful little garden and pond. Again, the picture doesn't nearly do it justice but it was amazing. I would definitly love to eat dinner there every night!

The lesson you should take from today's post - Kyoto is amazing, but it is a million times better in person....therefore - COME VISIT!!!! Free personal tour guides?! Come on...who can say no to that?!

Anyways, there are still a few more shots from this area, and about a hundread more to come after that, so stay tuned!!

I Love you and Miss you alllll!!!!!

Tara

Kyoto Day 1 Video

If the the video does not appear in the box above, please try the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ4Ie8Wl_wE

Here's part one of the trip to Kyoto. On the first day we visited Ginkakuji (the silver pavillion), and later in the evening we explored the Kyoto train station, which itself is a work of modern art.

Editor's Notes:

The video is a bit shakey in ginkakuji, but you get the impression of the place. In one part you will see a display of many different kinds of moss. Some of them were labelled VIP- and infact, they did look quite impressive as far as moss goes. You can't see much, but I included this anyway because the entire grounds were covered by moss, and I think this is important to the shinto belief that everything is alive. If you're not interested in eastern religions, replace the word "Shinto" with "Jedi", and read as "The Jedi belief that everything is part of the force." It's essentially the same religion, as far as I can tell....not to offend any Shintoists out there, I just don't know anything more about it. Point is, the whole garden is so green and alive, as you walk through it you feel like it's breathing and growing with you.

Kyoto Eki is really quite an impressive building, although many locals protested it when it was first errected; calling it an eyesore in the middle of a beautiful traditional city. On the contrary, I was quite impressed with Kyoto station. Down the middle, an endless line of escalators carry you up a whole 14 floors from ground level. At night, many people were sitting on the roof top where there is an open air bamboo garden, and a small patch of lawn. The station is filled with large bizarre curving shapes, and is mostly open to the sky. I think it is a good example of the harmony of the modern world with ancient tradition, which I think Japan pulls off so well. It also incorporates the natural world with the constructed human world, an ideal that Kyoto pulls off perfectly. As you will see in future episodes, the city is a wonderful harmonization of these opposites, and that is what made it such an intriguing city to me.

-Ian

P.s. Please see Tara's pictures below if you haven't already!

Kyoto: Part 1 of Day 1

So as you all know, on Wednesday we headed out on our first real adventure - to KYOTO! We decided that we would take the local trains instead of the Shinkansen (bullet train) because it would save us some money. Unfortunately for us, the Shinkansen may be more expensive, but it makes up for it by being easier. We lost a fair bit of time in our first day because we didn't know how the local trains worked. Then when we finally did arrive, I decided to take the map and direct us to our hotel. Anyone who knows my sense of direction will immediatlyask...ummm...why???? So I got us lost for a bit but eventually Ian took the map and we were at the Hotel in no time. Unfortunatly by then it was around 2 and most sites close around 4 or 5. But we headed out anyways, in search of the silver temple that isn't really silver (Ginkakuji Temple).







Ginkakuji Temple was absolutely gorgeous. The temple itself was impressive but the grounds with all the gardens were the real appeal. It was built as a retirment villa for Yoshimasa and established as a Zen temple in 1482.




There is a waterfall in behind me, though it didn't turn out in the picture.




You will notice that everything is still super green, despite the fact that it is mid October. Apparently fall here doesn't really start until around November. I ceertainly won't complain about that! We were a bit disapointed though, because people kept telling us the 2 best times to visit were in the fall when the leaves change, and in the spring when the cherry trees bloom.
I guess we will just have to go back!!





From the main grounds there is a path winding up into the mountains: When we reached the top there was a beautiful view of the city. Unfortunatly because the sun was setting on it, none of the city shots turned out great.




The sun did help make for a few other impressive shots though! Actually if you recal from from the previous post, the Rivendale looking picture is from this same location.







Though the temple itself was probably the least impressive of the ones we saw, the grounds more than made up for it. This was one of my favorite places we saw.

These sand gardens were so impressive. We kept seeing them everywhere, and I can only imagine the effort and time that goes into making them look so perfect.


I have a few more shots from Ginkakuji which I will post soon. As I said before, we have about 200 pictures, and Blogger is picky about how many they will let us put up at a time. Enjoy these one though, and there will be lots more soon! Ian is also working on editing his video which he will do in 3 parts, so there is still lots left to see.

I miss everyone!!!

Love Tara

Kyoto: The Trailer Version.....

Just a little teaser from our trip to Kyoto: The greatest place on earth
With 204 pictures and about 50 minutes of video it might take us a while to put together some comprehensive posts. But don't fret, we are working diligently on them!!

Keep in mind that all who come visit us will have the pleasure of seeing this amazing land in person!!


Some things to look forward to:

Sanjuusangendo (1001, 100 armed golden buddhas: Though no pictures were allowed inside, the grounds themselves were amazing) -




Ginkakuji Temple (The Silver Pavilion): We felt like we were in Rivendale from Lord of the Rings. Seriously - I didn't know such places existed in real life -

Higashiyama Mountians (Yes, there is a monkey park in the mountains): quite possibly the cutest creatures I have ever seen! -

Alright, thats all for now, but remember, there is LOADS more to come!!!

I miss you all!

Love Tara!