Day 5 Part 2

Hello from Kyoto! In the afternoon of our fourth day on the trip, after we visited a shrine in the morning, we went to Sanjusangendo temple. Before we arrived, our guide, Tomomi told us that we had to be silent in the temple and we also couldn’t take any photos because of how sacred it was. We took off our shoes and went inside and I was astonished by just how many statues the temple held; the building was completely filled! Later I found out there were over a 1000 identical statues and then some more individual ones. In the center was a large statue of the Buddha, and on either end were important deities in Buddhism. We walked in silence and read the messages describing each of the Buddhist figures and their roles. Then we went outside to see the gardens that were full of picturesque flowers and ponds. With a quick photo shoot with Kenji on the way out, we got back on the bus and set off to our hotel. We briskly checked in so we could arrive on time to our restaurant for dinner. We walked to “Shabu Shabu”, a hot pot restaurant that had us cook our own food! After stuffing ourselves with the delicious meal, we walked back to our new hotel, had some free time, and went to bed, dreaming beneath the Kyoto cityscape.

 

Alexander