Today was yet another cold and rainy day, but we got out and about anyway. Thank goodness for waterproof jackets!!! Unfortunately my faithful canvas top shoes have a giant hole in the bottom of one, so I was walking on a wet sock all day, but I've had worse problems.
We decided to go to the Nijo-jo mae (Nijo Castle) which had some ridiculously old things in it. It was built in 1603, and was huge - around 8000 square meters! It was all beautifully decorated and painted, with a lot of the original details and trims even left unchanged.
There was also a museum which had a lot of the original painted doors on display which are usually stored and maintained, as the whole site is heritage listed.
The gardens around the castle were arguably even more beautiful, with Japanese Pines (the same as the typical bonsai trees) covering tiny man-made islands, with stone bridges connecting them all.
After the castle, we headed to the site of the original Imperial Palace. We didn't get in early enough to go inside, but Sean tried anyway, setting off an alarm in the process.
Again, the gardens were the real standout, with a small area with a shrine and a man with a cat being a personal highlight.
We got super lost trying to get back to our accommodation, because there are temples everywhere in Gion, the district near our hostel, and they are hard to tell apart on a map.
On the plus side, we saw about 10 really pretty temples, and found a delicious fried pork place.
Walking along the river, we also saw some people feeding hawks! They were huge, and completely dwarfed all the other birds by comparison. It was such an odd sight!
Tomorrow, zen gardens and gold temples xx