Again, there was no fixed agenda for today, so the first item of business was to plan today's assault.

Since we'd done a fair few of the major temples and shrines on the east of the city, we thought we'd head somewhere different. On the first trip in 2008 we saw Kinkaku-ji and Ginkaku-ji, the Gold and Silver pavilions respectively. The weather on the day of Kinkaku-ji was stiflingly hot from memory, and Ginkaku-ji was covered in scaffolding in the middle of a facelift when we visited, so we didn't have a pleasant experience at either location last time we went.

So with the big and little Kaku-ji's locked into the itinerary, we decided that a trip to Arashiyama would be too much for our already exhausted legs to endure for the day, so we planned to take the Philosopher's Walk south after the Ginkaku-ji visit.

So we set off at 10am, and in the area around the apartment, aside from a 15 minute walk the only breakfast option is McDonalds, which fit the bill nicely. They serve hot dogs for breakfast, so I was set.

Once we were done at McDonalds we crossed the road just in time to see our bus pulling up to the curb...and just as quickly pulling away from it without us on it. Not really a big deal, but it meant a 20 minute wait for the next bus, while we stood on a footpath less than a meter wide, next to a busy road with foot and bicycle traffic whizzing past our noses. After an eternity our bus arrived and we piled on.

Our last attempt at a Kyoto bus voyage several days ago was less than successful, and saw us head in the exact opposite direction to where we needed to go, so once the bus was in motion we waited nervously for confirmation that we were in fact headed for Kinkaku-ji, and not Tokyo or Okinawa.

Buses in Kyoto are plentiful, but largely terrible. They have routes that cover practically the entire city, and for most areas they charge a flat 220 yen fare (~ $2.50, and half price for kids) but they're always crowded, always very very slow since they're subject to whatever Kyoto traffic chaos is currently happening, they're almost always late in my experience. By contrast the subway lines that I've been on are less crowded, almost the same price, and orders of magnitude faster. The downside of the subway is that the areas of travel are limited, and to get between areas might require changing of lines, which means separate fares.

Still, to get to Kinkaku-ji from our apartment the bus was the easiest option, so we settled in for the crowded, hot, stop-start 50 minute dawdle across the city. At least we had seats, so it wasn't as unpleasant as it could have been.

Once off the bus the girls were hot, and had been wanting to try an ice-cream vending machine since they arrived in Japan. Charlotte and Angela chose a cookies-and-cream ice cream, which, no word of exaggeration, tasted exactly like playdoh. How do I know what playdoh tastes like? Have you smelled your hands after playing with playdoh for a long period of time? That's what the ice cream tasted like. It was horrible. In the bin it went.

Entering the grounds of Kinkaku-ji, we were pleasantly surprised to find that it was largely uncrowded. there was a school tour, and a noisy tour group of Americans in Hawaiian shirts and drawling corn-fed thick southern accents, but apart from that the Kinkaku-ji grounds were fairly tranquil.

After taking all of the same photos taken by everyone who has ever entered the Kinkaku-ji grounds, we followed the well roped tourists path. The path leads around the side, and then around behind the Golden Pavilion, before heading up a small hill away from the pavilion.

The Golden Pavilion itself is, in a word, incredible. The immaculately maintained gold of the pavilion walls reflect off the mirror pond beneath it, and contrast so dramatically with the deep green of the forest behind it .
The rest of the Kinkaku-ji grounds are largely forgettable. Immaculately manicured, but honestly not too interesting. Once you've climbed the hill and are out of sight of the Pavilion, you've seen all of the interesting bits. Aside from a few souvenir sellers, a bell and a couple of monks sitting around prepared to grant your wishes for the low low price of a few hundred yen, there isn't much to see, so we were soon looking for the exit.

A short walk, and a short wait later, we were on our second bus for the day, this time destined for Ginkaku-ji. Much less frequented and photographed than it's rockstar cousin Kinkaku-ji,
The pavilion was designed by the grandson of the Kinkaku-ji designer as a a copy of his grandfather's design, and the initial plan was to cover the pavilion in silver foil (hence the Silver Pavilion name). During war however, the construction was halted, and the designer died before realising his ambition to plate the pavilion in silver.

Ginkaku-ji, the pavilion itself, is nowhere near as remarkable as Kinkaku-ji. The grounds around Ginkaku-ji are however, exceptional, and visitors to this temple should go there for the grounds and zen gardens. On a visit to Ginkaku-ji, visitors should treat the pavilion as a bonus, and just enjoy the massive effort that has gone into the design and maintenance of the grounds and gardens. I'm not much of a garden guy. I kill trees, and my grass is often too long, but even I can appreciate the Ginkaku-ji grounds.

The aesthetics of Zen sand gardens and sculpting I can appreciate, but I'm the first to admit I don't really understand the spirituality of it all. If I sit and stare at it, after 5 or 10 minutes, it's still sand with lines in it. If I sit for any longer than 10 minutes staring at the sand with lines in it, I get sleepy, so I think the desired effect of the zen sand sculpting is lost on me.

The Ginkaku-ji ground tour follows a similar formula to the Golden Pavilion. The pathway walks you past the pavilion, and around the zen sand garden, then through the grounds and up a hill behind the pavilion, before leading you through a bunch of trinket sellers, and out the gates. I'll admit there are far less trinket sellers at Ginkaku-ji than there was at Kinkaku-ji, and they're easier to avoid at the latter pavilion, so this is another area where Ginkaku-ji gets my vote.

Next on the to-do list was the philosopher's walk, which starts at the bottom of the hill, just below the row of food and souvenir shops leading away from Ginkaku-ji, and leads south to Nanzen-ji temple. This walk is supposedly 30 minutes long provided you make no stops, and the name of the walk was coined by a 20th century philosopher and University professor, who used the pathway for his daily walk and meditation.

With the clouds looking extremely ominous, and 3 exhausted children (and 2 exhausted parents), we decided instead to take the philosophers bus journey, otherwise known as bus 100.

I'm betting that the philosopher that undertook these daily meditation walks never did so while taking 3 children along with him, and especially not after dragging them around temple hopping for 3 days. Now that would give him something to think about.

Bus 100 started off empty and comfortable, and gradually swelled with people until, by the time it arrived back at our station, it looked like the face of someone who had just put 100 marshmallows into their mouth. We rang the bell as we approached our stop, and since we were sitting on the very back seat of the bus, we had to push past approximately three hundred people to reach the front of the bus. This, I'm sure, put the bus around 5 minutes behind schedule, but we eventually made it out alive.

Since the weather was still looking threatening, Charlotte ran back to the apartment to collect some umbrellas, and we made our way towards the restaurant district.
Having not eaten since breakfast, and since it was now around 4pm, we went to our old favourite Bikkuri Donkey for a very late lunch / early dinner.

It was outside of dinner hours so we were seated straight away, and a nice girl seated the 5 of us at a table for 4, and then kindly bought over an extra chair. Once Charlotte sat in the extra chair however the demeanour of our previously happy waitress changed. She suddenly became very upset and emotional, making all kinds of exceptional Japanese noises and waving of hands, like a mime or a chimp trying to tell you that the building is on fire.
Veronica had a very frustrating and circular conversation with the girl, where we eventually deduced that she didn't want any of us to sit in the chair that she had just bought over. And with that, she took it away.
Oh how I wish I knew the Japanese translation for THEN WHY THE HELL DID YOU JUST GIVE IT TO US THEN?!

No matter. With that perplexing but amusing bit of stupidity out of the way we settled into the 4 person booth for what was yet another unwaveringly exceptional Bikkuri Donkey meal.
I almost wish that they would have served me a mediocre meal, just once, so I wouldn't miss it so much when I have to return to Australia.

In a move that mimicked last night's efforts, considering we were all utterly full, and now exceptionally sleepy, the only sane thing to do when you're within walking distance of your apartment is to walk in the exact opposite direction in search of more 100 yen shops. Obviously.

Veronica was still looking for a particular set of containers which are perfect for her craft and scrapbooking stuff, but since finding some a few days ago, has been unable to ever since. Searching around on the incredibly handy Navi Japan app on the iPod, we found there was one untapped 100 yen store in the underground shopping mall Zest, around 10 minutes walk north, so, since we're leaving Kyoto tomorrow, we set off in that direction to try our luck.

While I kept the older girls amused in a few of the shops, Veronica browsed the 100 yen store for what felt like hours, but was probably closer to 15 minutes or so. As luck would have it, they had ample supply of whatever it was she was searching for, so it wasn't a completely wasted walk.

With everyone, especially me, now complaining that their legs no longer worked, and that we weren't going to make it home, after a brief stop at Starbucks for coffee, and the Lawson's convenience store for my morning coffee milk, we began the long, long walk back to the apartment. I'm sure the road to our apartment is getting longer every day. I'm not complaining however since tonight is the last night we'll have to undertake the walk.

Leaving Kyoto in the morning, and it is quite sad. Kyoto is a hectic crowded metropolis, but it remains my favourite city in the world, and this visit has only reinforced this view.
I love the city. I love its pace. I love its convenience. I love its shopping. I love its attractions. Most of all I love it for myriad of experiences and memories that it has given to me and my family on each of our 3 visits here that we'll treasure forever.

Kyoto, I'm not sure when we'll be back, but I just know we'll see you again at some point in the future.