I can't believe it's already been over a week since I came back to Kyoto!

Our first day in Kyoto started slowly - at the beginning we sat at a bar, chewing breakfast like llamas and next we went to Imperial Palace's gardens to sleep on a bench. After a overnight bus trip I think it's justified, but we must have been a weird sight:

After sleeping until 12 AM we went to see one of Kyoto's most well-known temples - Kinkakuji, the Golden Pavilon. Barely avoiding a group of wild Chinese tourists, we managed to see it in relative peace. (Photo taken by a very confused Japanese: us in front of the Kinkakuji)

Photo: first plum blossoms at Kitano Tenmangu.

In the evening we went to Funaoka onsen - a very old public bath in north Kyoto (and very cheap - only 410 yen!). After teaching Jarek basic know-how (take the little bucket at the entrance, wash yourself before going into the bath, try not to atract attention to your tattoo) I told him I'd meet him in an hour. He asked me "why the hell would I spend an hour over there?" - I told him "you'll see." I left after an hour and waited alomost 15 minutes for him to emerge, totally blissful expression on his face. His only comment was "an hour is not enough..."

When I was working one day Jarek was running around Kyoto on his own - he just picked a direction and went straight ahead. He ended up climbing Mount Daimonji...

Our next trip was Arashiyama. One of the things that I love about Kyoto is that when you want to go shopping and be trampled by a huge crowd you can go to Sanjo or Shijo area, but when you want some peace and quiet and contact with nature you can go into the mountains and after a few minutes there's not a soul in sight. So we saw most of the "touristy" places - the bridge and the bamboo grove, but then we went up the river and that's what we saw:


Also the torii path in the Inari Shrine was an amazing sight:



It was snowing yesterday, which was perfect, because we had planned a trip to Kiyomizu Temple and it's said that it's the best place to admire Kyoto when it's snowing. The temple itself is known for it's wooden terrace where many unhappy couples commited "shinju" - double suicide, but you can also have a great view of the city from the said terrace. Next we went in the direction of Yasaka pagoda, down on the cute narrow streets of traditional Kyoto. We'll have to go back there sometime...

We also visited two museum and were really lucky, because now is the time for student's end-of-term exhibitions, and the entrance was free. We went to Manga Museum and Traditional Craft Gallery. Manga Museum is just basically a huge manga library - they even have all-year tickets and I can understand why. The Crafts Gallery was a fantastic place and we enjoyed the works of the students - I am still amazed that people can make such things with just a couple of simple tools. (Photo: your very own mini zen garden)



Today's evening was spent in a lovely restaurant, celebrating Mindy's and Gary's wedding. We had lots of great food and I'm eternally grateful to Mindy that she invited us, otherwise I'd probably never even dream of entering such a restaurant. Good luck you guys!