Kyoto - temple-tastic

Another bullet train to Kyoto: the only city to be spared from bombing during WW2 due to its historical and religious buildings.This city is quite a tourist trap and we only gave ourselves one afternoon and evening here so had to select a couple of sights to see.We walked up to the Silver (Ginkakuji) temple and ambled back down the 'path of philosophy' along the canal and stopped to visit the Nanzenji temple at the bottom.Most temples and shrines have impressive gates but the Sanmon gate at this one is enormous.The weather turned really cold here and it started to snow (although not quite as freezing as you've had at home, when you're outside all day it gets really cold).At the temple we saw some beautiful Zen gardens (although were nearly numb they were even prettier with the snowfall).The patterns that are created with gravel, sand and rocks are related to the fact that the creators of these gardens are often artists who use ink and paint.

We were so cold we could barely feel our fingers so decided to finish our temple visits early and head back to our room - this unfortunately was just as cold as outside and had to wait a while for the heater to kick in.This area is noticeably older than other cities in Japan as there are few high-rise buildings - the area we stayed was very quiet with narrow streets and felt more like a village.

We have already seen a few funny 'lost in translation' signs in Japan but at this backpacker's house we were surrounded by them (hence a new lost in translation folder of photos).The best being 'Put in filth here please' on the bin and 'please wash by yourself the table-were and cooking-were' in the kitchen.Not forgetting - 'Please wipe a leg on a mat after using shower'!!

Leaving the heater on (in hope it would make the room warmer for later) we headed back out to the Gion area in search of a Geisha (merely just to look at you understand!).This old quarter of Kyoto has a traditional theatre and lots of traditional teahouses and closed-door expensive restaurants where geishas entertain their customers.We only spotted a couple - probably too cold for geisha-ing tonight!We strolled (or more hurried to stop freezing completely) through some of the old streets to look at some of the shrines and temples lit up.

Luckily the room had heated up enough when we got back - a fleeting visit in Kyoto and now on our way back to Tokyo for a night out with fish, sake and karaoke!

Liz x