Tuesday May 26th, 2009

Today we went to three different shrines, the golden pagoda, Kiyomizu, and Fushini Taisha shrine. They were all really beautiful. The first was the golden pagoda. It was a beautiful zen Buddhist temple that was covered in gold leaf. It was located in this beautiful garden. I actually have a picture that I took of it as the background of my computer. After we left for Kiyomizu, there was a large observation deck that gave a beautiful view of Kyoto. On the way back down I was able to do some shopping, I picked up a gift for my parents on the way back. Afterwards we went to the Fushini taisha shrine there were thousands of orange arches. This particular shrine can be seen in the last Samurai and Memoirs of a Geisha. It was a really beautiful place, one of my favorite so far in Kyoto. Afterwards we made our way back into Kyoto and spent the rest of the night just hanging out in the Hotel. It was good to take a night to just relax and recharge the batteries. Tomorrow we go to Nara and the biggest Buddha in the world