Kyoto and Osaka

Mike and Alex are really excited about Iraq... whatever keeps the kiddies happy. =)

The leg room on these trains is amazing. If only airlines took a cue.

Yup, this is she.

The Golden Temple in all its (rainy) glory. Even without the sun glinting off its side this temple was breathtaking.

In Kyoto are two very large temples that still function for worship, and they sit on both sides of the city. This one in particular had a few relics on display, and I enjoyed a quiet moment inside meditating while those around me prayed.

Before you enter any temple in Japan, tradition states that you rinse off your hands at the available fountain. They usually have long sticks with tin cups at the ends to dip into the water and then pour over your hands because reaching into the actual water is both difficult and I'm pretty sure frowned upon for "contamination" reasons, and I mean that in the spiritual sense. This one in particular had a very awesome dragon that the water came spewing out of.

This was the inside of one of the temple buildings, showing a shrine that people face when praying/worshipping. The floors were covered in tatami mats that can only be walked upon in socks or slippers. No shoes allowed here.

So it was lucky that the girls and I wore our cute socks that day. =)

The whole gang in one last gathering before moving on from Higashi-something or other. I swear I'll figure out the name, just as soon as I can get someone who reads kanji to tell me what it is.

On the way to another shrine I stumbled upon this store. The katakana spelling below is different than the way I spell my name, but it's an otherwise cool occurrence, since very few Mary's frequent Japan.

From the top of the steps of the Kiyomizu Shrine entrance. The shrine is on an enormous fuck-off hill that is littered with adorable shops all the way up. So not only are you belabored by the sheer angle of the hike, but by the need to look at every cute Kyoto theme shop. Needless to say the men went ahead of the ladies.

Once you climb the hill, then you start climbing the steps to the main shrine area. I gave many thanks to the Rieber steps that day.

Look Ma! A real live pagoda!

This was one of the only shrines where I was glad it was cloudy and raining. Look at the way the clouds just sit in the trees... as if they were protecting the sanctity of the shrine. I loved it. It made the whole experience more... mysterious.

Tori, tori, tori! Traditional Japanese "gates." If you see one, chances are it means you're entering a new "place" or "area." And I think it also means that it is meant to be protected. Not like spirits will chase you down or anything if you look at it funny, just considered more sacred. I might be wrong. I'll get myself a Japanese history books and find out.

Near the top of the shrine grounds were two large stones set about 18 feet apart. Legend says that if you can walk from one stone to the other with your eyes closed without straying fro your path or falling over or anything, then you will have the romantic life you desire. But if you fail, then you will never find love. This is more difficult than it sounds because there are a lot of people walking around and getting in the way as they paruse the shrine. So, in order to escape my fate as the old woman with cats, I gave it a shot... and hella succeeded! Bryan did it too and the both of us got rounds of applause from spectators. Other visitors had their friends talk them from one end to the other. Pansies.

The other legend about Kiyomizu (this is what really brings the tourists in droves) is about the supposed healing powers in the water. So if you choose, you can line up and wait your turn to drink the magical healing water. We all decided against it. Nothing personal, but I didn't want to drink from the same containers that who knows how many random people had drank from. Not to mention, I have no idea where that water came from. I could be drinking "healing" water and end up with malaria!

Nothing ends a long day better than stripping from wet clothes into the complimentary hotel robe. It took about an hour for me to move from that position.

En guarde! This is what happens when you bring umbrellas that you don't end up needing. Or maybe it's just what happens when Mike and I get together.

This is the River Oi. The Australians and Jewish Mary both thought that was the best name of a river EVER.

At the park they had rickshaw tours you could take. They're sort of like the bicycle boys in Seattle, or carriage rides on New York. The rickshaw man wouldn't let us sit in the contraption unless we paid (and it was expensive!) but he didn't mind being IN the picture next to it. Cheeky bastard.

It was too easy...

At first we thought this warning was funny. We had no idea how seriously to take it. Especially Bryan... >=)

Crikey! It's a monkey in the wild! How rare and odd!

Or not...

This is as close as I dared get.

Bryan affectionately entitled this picture "6 monkeys" on his computer. I thought that about encapsulated it. He'll eventually get over the fact that I stole his file name, I'm sure.

Since we had to climb up a mountain to get here, the least we could get for our huffing and puffing was this unbelievable landscape view of all of Kyoto. There was so much peace in that view, except for those confoundit monkeys.

This is the old Shogun palace, Nijo Castle, that was literally across the street from our hotel. So we saved it for last. I wasn't allowed to take any pictures inside, but I wish I could have. It was phenomenal. There was literally zero furniture, everyone sat on the tatami matted floors, and the dinner table and assorted beds were hidden in cupboards unless needed. One more very cool random fact about Nijo-jo... the floors leading around the house were all specially designed to squeak so that no one could ninja their way into the palace and kill the Shogun. Nifty huh? Well I thought so too, until the squeaking made me want to rip my hair out as we toured the main house.

The back gardens of the palace. It was very understated but very serene and beautiful.

Bloody rain...

Look! It's a moat! I was the only one in the group excited by the prosepct of a moat. They kept pointing it out to me just to see me get happy. "Look Mary! It's your moat!" As if, I can only HOPE to have my own moat one day.

This is the rocking street of downtown Osaka. Think 3rd Street... I inadvertently took the same picture that shows up in my Japan tour book. I thought that was kind of nifty.

We all found a Mexican Restaurant on the Dotonbori and pigged out like crazy. It was the first sour cream I'd had in months. The experience would have been complete, except for the jazz music playing in the background. Just because we're all "gaijin" to the Japanese doesn't mean we're all the SAME gaijin.

Dos Equis!

Alex: Isn't it missing an X?

Mary: No, then it would be "Tres Equis," or a really bad movie with Vin Diesel.

I like to call this picture, "Sol Man." Get it? If not, then you don't listen to enough James Brown.

This feat in architecture looked so gorgeous with the refection of the passing clouds in its windows. The building is completely detached except for the top level where they connect to make an observation deck over all of Osaka.

Now instead of all of Kyoto sprawled behind me, I have all of Osaka, which looks even cooler because it's a much bigger city.

On nice and fairly calm days they open the top of the building up so you can go outside. Luckily, the day we went was one of those days. That's Bryan and Aley with me. Alex and Mike would join us later.

The first large bridge (over a moat!) into the Osaka Castle grounds. Just wait till you see it...

8 stories tall and adorned with gold statues and trim all over the place. This time, the gold DID glint in the sunlight. Too bad they stripped the inside and turned it into a modern day museum. I would have loved to see what it looked like back in the day.

David be sweet! I am looking adoringly at David Beckham because let's face it, he's HOT. Come girls, you know it's true. And as it happens, they removed this poster that very night, because the next morning David was gone and replaced with some other ad. Phew!

Bryan, Aley, Alex, myself, and Mike in front of the famed Osaka Aquarium. Eh, I live next to Sea World. This aquarium wasn't very exciting to me. It did have a few highlights...

Such as the copulating homosexual river otters. Seriously, they were getting it ON, thrusting and all, that it took a while for my hands to stop shaking long enough to take the picture. That's how hard I was laughing. I guess captivity works on animals as well as men...

This was the aquariums biggest claim to fame - one of the only whale sharks in captivity. This sucker was HUGE. I thought of Allison immediately and took the picture. Now I'm kind of glad I did for me too, cause he was so peaceful and majestic.

And then there were three on the way home...

Because the youngins couldn't take the heat. =) The trip wiped all of us out pretty well. It's just that Bryan and Aley were the only ones who showed it on the shinkansen. =)

Kyoto and Osaka 9.2003

Kyoto and Osaka
9.2003