Meadow on the Ledge: From Kyoto to the Bay: Day 4-5

It is time for another post. I have been busy with life things in the past week or so, so I haven't had much time to finish my story about my trip around Japan. This week has been filled with excitement, effort, a lot and a lot of thinking, and a lot of missing my other half.

I'm at at a crossroad. Going to Japan was a quick and lovely detour, but here I am standing at this crossroad again. In the past several days, several paths have appeared before me on this journey called life, with some paths not quite made and others that are more clear than others. But, there are so many that I do not know which path to take. What happens if I take one path, but not the other? Will I regret going down one path while knowing what the other path could have lead to?

Anyway, while I figure out what to do and where to go, let me tell you the rest of my story of Japan! When I think of Kyoto, I think of the song "Rather Be" by Clean Bandit. Noah introduced me to this song by well, just playing it every once in a while. The lyrics, and this song, is a perfect reflection of the theme for our time in Japan.

"Rather Be" - Clean Bandit (feat. Jess Glynne)

We're a thousand miles from comfort, we have traveled land and sea

But as long as you are with me, there's no place I'd rather be

I would wait forever, exalted in the scene

As long as I am with you, my heart continues to beat

With every step we take, Kyoto to The Bay
Strolling so casually
We're different and the same, get you another name
Switch up the batteries

If you gave me a chance I would take it
It's a shot in the dark but I'll make it
Know with all of your heart, you can't shake me
When I am with you, there's no place I'd rather be
N-n-n-no, no, no, no place I'd rather be [3x]

We staked out on a mission to find our inner peace
Make it everlasting so nothing's incomplete
It's easy being with you, sacred simplicity
As long as we're together, there's no place I'd rather be

When I am with you, there's no place I'd rather be

Hmmmmmmmmmm, hoooooooooo
Be
Yeah-e-yeah-e-yeah-e-yeah-e-yeah, yeah, yeah

When I am with you, there's no place I'd rather be

Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to experience Kyoto with Noah, but I did get to explore it with my mom. In my last post, we last left of being in Hiroshima.

Day 4: Kyoto

Kyoto is a beautiful and unique city with so much to do! It is unbelievable how many temples, shrines, castles, and other sights are around the city. Much of the sights were spread out in the city, and due to our limited time in Kyoto, my mom and I got to experience only a small sample of the many sights and adventures in Kyoto. On top of that, it was also rainy, so that cut our days a little bit short as well.

Upon arriving in Kyoto, the first adventure on our agenda was to visit Nijo Castle, which is on the World Heritage List as a Historic Monument of Ancient Kyoto. The castle was built by the Tokugawa shogunate in 1603 to act as a defense of the Kyoto Imperial Palace and to serve as a housing facility for visiting shoguns. The castle isn't what you would think of as a typical castle in Europe. This type of castle is one story and is basically a giant square divided into many, many simple rooms with sliding or thin painted wooden walls and covered with floor mats. Something interesting was the the floors squeaked when you walked on them, so that people inside would be alerted of visitors.

The gardens of Nijo Castle.

Entrance to Nijo Castle.

The grounds of Nijo Castle.

Ume (plum) blossoms along a walkway on the Nijo Castle grounds covered with plum trees.

After visiting Nijo Castle, I really wanted to walk the "Philosopher's Path" in Kyoto, which is a path that is lined with cherry trees along a canal. This path got its name because an influential 20th century Japanese philosopher and professor used to walk the path to meditate. My mom and I walked the path while the sun was setting on the left (west), so the path caught the glowing orange light from the sun, and it was simply beautiful. I cannot even imagine what the path would look like when all the cherry blossoms are actually in bloom.

The Philosopher's Path follows the stones on the right of the photo.

Flowers I captured along the Philosopher's Path.

At the end of the Philosopher's Path, we were blessed with this gorgeous view of Kyoto City.

Thus concludes Day 4.

Day 5: Kyoto and Nara

Oh, what a fun day this was. My mom and I had an appointment at 1PM with the Yumekoubou-Maiko Makeover studio, so we raced the clock to visit Nara and be back before the appointment began. Nara is another quaint city about 45 minutes via train away from Kyoto. Nara is known for its temples, the largest bronze statue of buddha, and its many, many deer!!

One of the temples in Nara.

Just some of the many, many deer in Nara. You can buy food to give to the deer, so that is why they are conglomerating next to the person on the left.

Todai-ji Temple, quite a treasure in Nara. This temple contains the largest bronze statue of buddha in Japan.

A doe. It was so cute, and you could even see its little white spots!

We didn't have much time in Nara, so that was the end of our adventures there. Next stop: Yumekoubou Maiko Makeover Studio! This was a really neat experience. We had a lot of translation problems and the studio was busy, so it was a little bit of a struggle. However, the experience as a whole was fun! Who doesn't love to dress up? It is amazing how much of a process the makeover is, from putting on the face mask to drawing in my eyebrows to putting on the kimono to putting on the little sandals. When the photos came out, it's quite strange seeing yourself, but not quite seeing yourself. Here are the best photos that came out!!

After changing and spending a lot of time trying to take off our make-up, we headed over to Ariyashima to see the bamboo grove. Being the nature lover that I am, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to walk through the bamboo grove and attempt to capture some photos. Unfortunately, the lighting was not great because we got to the grove in the evening and the photos never capture how majestic it feels to be in the grove itself, but these will have to do.