Today we arrived around noon in Kyoto, the city most famous for its Temples, Shrines and Geisha's. After dropping off our stuff in the Ryokan we started a tour across the city.

Firstly we went to visit the 1000 tori-gates. Anyone who has seen the movie "memoirs of a Geisha" probably knows the scene where the girl runs through a tunnel of red gates. (In reality these are orange or vermillion). This was a very nice visit.

The next stop was a Buddhist temple, actually the longest wooden building in existence, filled with 1000 Buddha statues. This was simply amazing, especially since the statues have the size of a full grown man.

Before our dinner we then headed for the area where Geisha's can still be found. While getting there I was astonished by the Temples we saw along the way, and actually a lot of women dressed in Kimono. This was all very cool!

When we arrived in the area around Gion we saw some high-class teahouses where Geisha's can spend the evening with a client. Our tour leader (Luke) explained that a Geisha actually signifies "master of arts". This is to say that a Geisha is trained in the art of conversation, dance, singing, music etc. (Contrary to what some might think there is absolutely no sex involved!) Our guide also explained that often Geisha's will get harassed by tourists trying to capture them on film, which is obviously a bad thing. After all, we should not forget that Geisha's are not objects on display, but "normal" human beings just like you and me.

When we then saw some Maiko's passing (Maiko = Geisha apprentice) and a Geisha, it felt to me as if I was witnessing something extraordinary. It also felt weird or embarassing to take pictures of them, so I didn't.

I really believe that the world of a Geisha is so completely different from ours. It seemed somewhat magical to get a glimpse of this world. I thought this was very special.

By the way, the Geisha was extremely beautiful and elegant. Simply amazing...

Since everybody was starving by now, we went to the first conveyor-belt sushi restaurant. The sushi was cheap and super delicious!!! After visiting the 100-yen shop, This was really a good evening!

Since tomorrow is a free day, I will go to bed early to get a good rest!