Shrines and Castles

Today we decided to mix things up with a shrine and a castle before going to see a temple. The Heian-jingu shrine was okay, but for us the main distinction seemed to be the gigantic orange torii in the front. Yes, I'm a little templed out.

Nijo Castle was a lot more fun, if only for the creaky floors. According to Lonely Planet, these floors are prominently featured in ninja movies. Is this true? This castle was the home of the shogun who essentially ruled Japan (instead of the emperor) for a long time before the Meiji Restoration. The garden here was also nice.

Finally we took the JR to Arashiyama to see the temple and garden there. Those were as you would expect though the garden was quite a bit bigger than most, maybe because it is a bit out of the city center. Near there is an overrated bridge which luckily is not a UNESCO site. Also near there was some yummy pink ice cream. According to the picture next to it, I have to assume that it is some sort of flowery tea flavored ice cream though that's not how it tasted really.

The train station in Kyoto is a lot of fun.