Ok update.

I've been going places alot lately, so I have alot of pictures to show, but I'll just select a few per landmark I saw.

13 november
On friday the 13th (gasp) me and a friend went to explore temples in the northwest of Kyoto. Our first stop was 妙心寺. It's a temple with alot of little temples around it. A fair amount of these is visitable and since they're not really touristy you can get a real Japan experience when going in one. We had little time because we left at noon so we couldn't do alot, but I'm definately going back there to explore every thing there is.



Our next stop was 仁和寺, a temple part of the UNESCO world heritage list. The museum was small but they had some beautifull statues from the Heian period there (9th century) so it was amazing.

The entrance gate of the temple is huge!



There was a palace there that we visited too of course. You have to remove your shoes and you can go inside some of the rooms. The rooms are connected by elevated and roofed wooden hallways among beautifull gardens. It's was amazing to just sit there and absorb it all, the history of ancient Japan. Breathtaking!







They also had a pagode on site, my first one I've ever seen.



After that we went to 金閣寺 because my friend hadn't been there. It was already the 3rd time for me but it still amazes me every time I turn that corner and see it in front of me.



14 november

On the 14th we planned to go to the Osaka municipal museum of art, but the weather was really good so we went to the zoo instead, which was right in front of the museum.









We seriously thought the tortoise was dead o___O



This frog was hilarious, it would just sit still like that all the time without moving. It looked like it took drugs or something O____o



They also had a huge birdhouse where I saw this gorgous duck





On the way back we passed through this abandoned amusement park. It still looks like new but you can clearly see alot of homeless people use it as their home. Funny how it's closed but you can still walk through it. It looked like a giant mall with a rollercoaster in it.



15 november

Yesterday I went to visit the 二条城, again in Kyoto. This castle is built by the Tokugawa shoguns as their centre of power in Kyoto (they reigned from Edo, the former name of Tokyo). It's famous for it's nightingale floors, that squeek when you walk on it, so that intruders could be caught.









16 november

Today I went to Kyoto again (lol) and walked along the "Philosopher's way". It's a famous path that goes from 銀閣寺　to 南禅寺. To fall folliage turned everything that more beautifull.



So my first stop was 銀閣寺. It's somewhat in the same style as 金閣寺 altough it's never been covered in silver because war broke out. Too bad they were restoring it and removed the walls of the first floor. I'll have to back there once they're done and see the result!



The garden was really nice and you could get good views from it (built on a hill side).



The next temple, 永観堂禅林寺, was a real surprise because I didn't expect it. The interiours were stunning with alot of gold, and again you got that ancient japan feel from it. Too bad pictures were forbidden =[

The garden was alot nice, and getting to the pagode was a long climb up. Apparently this temple is famous for it's fall folliage, which explains the crowds of japanese enjoying the colours and taking pictures of it!







Well that concludes what I have done this extended weekend. Next week we're going to hike in the mountains around Kyoto and discover some hidden shrines where tourists barely come. Can't wait