03/27 Kyoto

Today we biked around Kyoto, a trip that lasted about 12 hours and
covered about 40 km.

After a quick trip to Nijo castle we rode to daitokuji temple, which
was a large complex with many shrines. From here we went to kinkakuji
temple or the golden pavillion. This was a 3 story building covered in
gold leaf. The first floor was like a palace, the second in a samurai
style, and the top like a zen temple. On the roof was a phoenix.
Unfortuately we couldn't go inside but it was very beautiful. Also,
the ticket for entry looks like anti-spirit paper in animes.

The next stop was Ryoanji temple, famous for the rock garden. The
garden consisted of 15 rocks and white gravel and is said to invoke
meditation. It was pretty simple and I guess your suppose to ponder
lives misteries. The temple also had a unique tsukubai, water basin of
stone. It has the inscription "I learn only to be content" meaning It
is more important to be spiritually rich then materially rich.

After a bunch more biking we stopped by ninnaji temple and tenryu-ji
temple. I had some cold soba for lunch which was pretty good. biked
back to the city and stopped by by the imperial palace park just
before sunset. In the park was a large fully bloomed sakura, which was
pretty.

As it got dark, we headed to the train station to get information on
tomorrow's trip and to check out the observation deck. The train
station was pretty cool and have to go up to the 11 floor to get to
the top, but Kyoto doesn't have many tall buildings so there was not
much to see. The tallest building, Kyoto tower could not be seen as it
was on the other side. The train station also had a sky walk over the
station which was neat. For dinner dima had a big $12 burger
consisting of 2 patties, bacon, ham, and an egg. I wanted 1 also but
they ran out of patties. I had an ELT, egg lettuce tomato, which was
pretty good. They had to cut off the crusts of the bread to toast it,
but gave them to you still since you paid for it, kinds neat.

Biking was pretty fun, considering I haven't rode a bike in about 5
years. I thought I was going to wipe out bad considering the last 2
times I rode a bike I wiped out and broke the bikes but everything
worked out. I guess its true you never forget how to ride a bike. It
was also fun weaving in and out of traffic, both people and cars.
Also, you can ride of roads and sidewalks, which made the trip faster.
The only downside is it feels like my butt is bruised from all the
riding.