New Old In Kyoto - Ginkakuji

Kyoto is so chock full of temples and shrines it's easy to see something new every time you come. I thought I'd do some more detailed posts about some of the new old sites we're seeing during our time in Kyoto.

We'd seen Kinkakuji (Golden Pavillion) before and this time we really wanted to see Ginkakuji, the Silver Pavillion. The Golden Pavillion was named because it is actually covered in gold leaf (well, I'm not sure if they actually did that for the restoration, but it is gleamingly gold). So you'd think that the Silver Pavillion would be silver, right? Well, you'd be so very, very wrong. I believe it was named thusly to indicate that it was built during the great time after the Golden Pavillion. (Do you sense the innate hierarchy that is so prevalent in Asian culture?).

So we went up to the Silver Pavillion by bus since it is fairly towards the top of the map (which you'd think would be North, but it isn't.) On the way we got to do a bit of people watching on the bus. The particular route we were on ended in the foothills of the mountains, so when I saw a group of girls wearing parkas and big winter hats and serious looking boots with backpacks, I assumed they were on their way for an outdoor adventure.

The one sitting on the left also had awesome pink moustache earrings.

But they got off in the middle of the city. You see, temperatures between 10-20 Celsius apparently just call for that kind of clothing. Boy do I feel out of place in my t-shirt!

Anyway, the temple itself was gorgeous. It had a few very nice raked sand designs at the beginning and very nice ponds and such to walk around. We let Locutus loose on the path and he practiced going up and down the staircase a dozen times as other tourists admired and commented on how cute he was (you'll notice this quickly becomes a running theme of this trip). Since word descriptions can't really do it justice, here are a few photos . . . 

See? Not so silver.

Just like at Golden Pavillion there was a spot where people toss their coins and try to hit a target. It's for luck, I'm assuming. This time we all faced forward and there were also school boys attempting. And, just like last time, guess who hit it with a definitive 'click' on her first try? Oh yeah, that would be me. However, the boys were distracted by the cuteness of my baby so my coin tossing didn't receive the same chorus of appreciation.

My 10 yen coin is one of the ones on the right of the rock ;)

Incidentally, between Lance and I there are over 500 photos from this day. So, it'll take a while to sort, edit, upload, etc. There will be some of us uploaded to our Flickr site, though you won't be able to see ones with Locutus unless you are a friend/family contact on Flickr, or you ask very nicely for an emailed link.