For our final full day in Kyoto, we wanted to check out the rest of the main sights in Hagashiyama. We took the Keihan Line train from Kyoto Station to the Kiyomizu-Gojo station. From there, it was about a 20 minute walk east to the first temple of the day, the famous Kiyomizu Temple.

This is another one of the highly recognizable Kyoto temples with a commanding position overlooking Kyoto. Kiyomizu is a Buddhist temple that is Kyoto's heart and soul. The temple is built around a holy spring (we learned that kiyomizu means "pure water") and was first built in the 700's. The current reconstruction dates from the 1600's, and a main hall housing an 11 headed Kannon figure along with a huge veranda that offers tremendous views. The veranda is often packed with people -- even more so today as everyone was taking in the remarkable fall foliage display.

Kiyomizu is lit up at night during the cherry blossom and fall foliage seasons. Although we are sure the display looks amazing, we were a bit too tired later in the day to make the trip back here to see the nighttime display.

After Kiyomizu we walked north through the Southern Higashiyama area which was chock full of souvenir shops and thronged with people. Our next stop was the lovely Kodaiji Temple, which had extensive gardens and beautiful fall foliage. We continued our walk and checked out the area around Ishibel-koji which offered views of gorgeous wood houses and really allowed us to step back in time and visualize what Kyoto must have looked like centuries ago.

We then wondered into the delightful Maruyama Park which was alive this Saturday morning with locals and tourists alike absorbing the sunshine on this chilly morning. Peaceful paths line through the blazing trees and among ponds stocked with behemoth sized carp. Emerging from the park we decided to check out Chion-In before grabbing lunch.

Chion-In is a simply massive temple -- this place is impressive and accessed up one of the steepest set of stairways we'd experienced on this trip -- good exercise to try and burn off all those udon noodles! Chion-In is the headquarters of one of Japan's most popular Buddhist sects, and was a great place to see regular Japanese practicing their religion. The temple hall with its gold alter were quite a sight, as was the temple bell housed nearby which is reportedly the largest temple bell in all of Japan.

After our visit we found ourselves very close to our hotel, so we decided to check out a nearby restaurant that we had spied the other day for lunch. The name was Asuka, and after a short wait were were seated on the floor of our own private room upstairs (up yet another steep staircase). Craig's tempura was delicious, but Efren's beef was a bit stringy. Still, the loving service offered by the mama-sans running the place made it all worthwhile.

Recharged after lunch, we decided to save ourselves the long walk and took a cheap taxi (less than $7) to the next temple -- Nanzen-ji. This place was so crowded that the taxi had to let us off a few blocks away because it couldn't get through all the people. We followed the masses and soon reached Nanzen-ji which is a complex of Zen temples tucked up against the mountains. The gardens here, as is the norm, were beautiful and set in a very scenic location. We enjoyed taking pictures of the crimson maples dropping their leaves on the mossy ground.

We explored a bit more and soon came to the aqueduct and followed it a bit before climbing the hill and entering the forest. All the crowds were now behind us and it was nice to breath in some of the crisp clean air and do a little contemplating. There were some small shrines and subtemples along the river and small waterfall here, so it was incredibly peaceful.

We proceeded onwards walking north and passed by the Eikan-do temple. We thought about entering, but it was so crowded and the line so long to buy the ticket that we decided to skip it -- something to see on our next visit! Soon we reached the Philosopher's Walk, which is a pedestrian path along a canal which was oozing with gorgeous trees. With the reflections off the water in the canal, it made for some really nice photo ops.

The Philosopher's Walk ends at our final temple of the day, and final temple of the trip -- the very famous Ginkakuji Temple -- also known as the Silver Pavilion. This enclosed paradise of ponds, thick moss, dense bamboo groves and classical Japanese architecture was an incredible sight to see, and a good way to end our visit of Kyoto. This place was really a feast for the eyes -- the foliage, the temples, the ponds, the rock/sand gardens all combined to make it a true paradise for the eyes!

By now we were exhausted, and took a taxi back to the hotel. The taxi driver recommended we visit a couple of other temples north of the area, but we were just too beat. Back at the hotel we started the somewhat grim process of starting to pack up. We checked our flights and checked in for our return trip. So sad. Efren and Craig are on the same flight tomorrow departing from KIX airport -- Kansai International Airport -- which is about 1 hour south of Osaka. We had purchased tickets on the express train that heads out there -- about $35 per person.

That evening we took it easy. Did some shopping and relaxing, had a nice dinner. Efren capped off the trip with another foot massage. Hard to believe how quickly the past 2 weeks have flown by!

On Sunday December 1, our flight out of KIX was scheduled to depart around 6pm. Given the need to be at the airport a few hours early and the lengthy trip on the train, we reserved a train departing Kyoto Station for KIX at about 1pm. This day we slept in, had breakfast at a quaint little cafe down the street, and slowly packed and got ourselves organized for the journey home. It was a good time to download pictures and to do some blog writing :).

We checked out of our room around 10am, and relaxed at the Sakara's common room for a bit before it was time to depart. Instead of lugging our baggage through the metro -- even though it was Sunday, everything was crowded ALL the time -- we took a taxi. Everything getting to KIX went smoothly, and as usual we got there with plenty of time to spare. After checking in and getting rid of our bags, we stopped for a final Japanese Starbucks and went through security. Security and immigration were quick and painless, and soon we were in the delightful ANA lounge. The lounge was very nice -- lots of power outlets and gave us a chance to rest up a bit more before our long flight. The food options were a bit minimal, but the beer dispensers that automatically tilt the glass to provide exactly the right amount of foam are always a joy -- we had seen them in the past at Narita airport near Tokyo.

We did some last minute shopping (holiday gift giving season is just around the corner!) and soon boarded our flight. We were in business class, so everything was extremely comfortable on this United flight direct to San Francisco. Craig passed much of the time uploading pictures, while Efren watched probably 9 hours of sitcoms (gotta love catching up on Big Bang Theory, The Middle, Raising Hope, etc on these flights)!

We took off on time and actually landed more than 30 minutes early. Craig breezed through immigration in the US with his Global Entry, but even without the access Efren was able to get through the lines pretty quickly. Our bags were a bit slow to arrive, but they made the trip unscathed and we collected them and were on our way. Back to our normal routine lives. All the anticipation of the upcoming trip behind us, our attention started drifting to where we want to visit in 2014. A return to Japan is a definite possibility. Like any 2 week visit, we were only able to see the highlights, and we learned of so many other places in Japan that we would like to see on our next visit -- the Japanese Alps, Hokkaido, Okinawa -- these are just a few of the many places that piqued our interest. Look for updates here for our next trip -- wherever that might take us!