Day 4 in Kyoto

Just got in from another long, but amazing. Despite a taaaad bit of initial confusion regarding where exactly our train to Kyoto boarded, we made it to the Tokyo station and took a bullet train to Kyoto. The train was SUPER FAST and gave us a little peek at Mt Fuji.

Two and a half hours later we got off the train and had no clue what we were going to do. So, we wandered around the station for a while until we found what seemed to be in info station. They pointed us in a few different directions, and we wound up at a tourist guide stand. They told us we should head to Kinkakuji where there were a few temples. With no other ideas of our own, we got on the bus, and 40 minutes later got off ...

... well, we certainly stumbled onto something amazing. We paid 400 yen, still not really sure what we were getting ourselves into, and after walking down a few paths, stumbled on Kinkaku, the main building at the temple. The building is covered with gold-leaf on Japanese Lacquer and is surrounded by a lake and unreal landscaping.

After that, we walked down the mountain a bit more and ended up at Ryoanji Temple.

From there, we bussed back to Kyoto station (but not before we took the bus loop in the wrong direction and actually ended up at the end of the line where we had to get off, re-board, and try again). At the station we found a restaurant for some Udon noodles, tempura, and sushi.

Then, it was back on the bullet train and back to Tokyo. We had a little pit stop at the arcade on the way home and now here we are. Tomorrow's our last full day and Carlos and I are headed to Nikko while Kate and Maria are going to shop here in Tokyo ... we'll meet back up later in the day for an all out final Japanese dinner before we're back stateside on Thursday!