................Taking Flight...............: Day 2: Bamboo Grove, Kinkaku-ji Temple, Gion again

We woke early-ish to head out to the Bamboo Grove. It was one of my favorite places. As soon as you walked into the area, it felt so much cooler and very refreshing. The bamboo was so high! I've never seen such big bamboo in my life. After walking around, we got a snack. First we tried the potato croquettes which were delicious. Then we shared a green tea/vanilla ice cream cone. That was also very delicious. We took the JR train back to Kyoto Station and went to MCD's for lunch so Jacob could try MCD in China, Japan and Korea. The french fries were delicious and it was also a lot cheaper than most of the other Japanese food. Again, we took a short rest at the guesthouse to decide where to move on for the rest of the afternoon.

We decided on Kinkaku-ji Temple, the Golden Temple. Walking back to Kyoto Station, we bought a day pass for the bus and had about a 40 minute bus ride to the temple. The temple was pretty impressive-it had gold lief all over the sides and was quite beautiful to look at. You couldn't go in it or get too close, but there were gardens to walk around on the temple grounds. We hopped on a bus and decided we'd check out the Imperial Palace Park/Gardens. We got there and started walking around a little bit and tried to figure out how to get into the palace. Our guidebook told us in the fall reservations weren't required, but after asking around and finding the information center, reservations were required and the final English tour was over for the day. Unfortunately we didn't get to see much in that area.

We took the bus to Gion area and decided we'd explore more there. We hit the jackpot and realized there was a lot more to Gion than when we visited last night. The weather was also much nicer and it was an enjoyable time. The streets and buildings there were pretty and there were many shops to look at. We started getting hungry and walked down to the main street to find somewhere to eat. We got udon (thick noodles) and a different kind of rice bowl for dinner. Then we did a little bit of shopping before returning to the guesthouse. We had new roommates; this time two Korean young women. We chatted with them and they were very nice.