Woke up this morning to monks chanting as they walked the street outside my Ryoken. Then later, the staff came up, took away my bed and set up the table for breakfast, which was pretty damn good too. Checked out after breakfast and walked to the Yakasa Shrine on my way to the bus stop. My bus was in the Gion district, famous for Geisha's. I knew that firsthand because as I was walking to my hotel yesterday, I walked past a rickshaw carrying a Geisha. Once in Gion, I hopped on a bus and headed to Nijo Castle. Nijo was built in 1603 as the official residence of the first Tokugawa shogun. It is an elaborate building with elaborate woodcarvings and paintings on sliding doors. There was also a large sprawling garden behind the castle, which was great to walk. From there I went to Kinkaku-ji. This is one of Japan's most widely photographed tourist attractions, because of the Golden Pavilion. Built in 1397, and converted into a temple in 1408, the Temple's top floors are covered in gold leaf and make an arresting site - especially on sunny days like today.
After that, it was time to call it a day and make my trip back to Tokyo. I hopped on the Shinkansen and made it back around 7pm. Going to go have a beer and call it a day. My feet really hate me by now and have made the later part of the day somewhat painful. Not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow yet, can't wait to find out!
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