The view here is from the top of Kitano Tenmangu Shrine. It supposedly enshrines a patron saint of learning. As you can see, it's a gray day. We're here during the rainy season so there are random showers. But because it is amazingly muggy and somewhat hot, the rain is not intolerable. Temperature is probably around mid-80s but the humidity is insane. Most Japanese carry these little washcloth-type-things around with them to blot. Considering the heat & lack of deodorant (just antiperspirant), I'm amazed that the people don't stink... if you ask a Japanese why there's no odor, he'll tell you because the Japanese are more evolved than Americans.... LOL.
The steps are the 3rd set to get up to the shrine. On our way down, we decided that we earned a "31 flavors" after all our climbing & walking. I'm sure you can guess what "31 flavors" here is in the US... Most flavors are same as US except for Matcha (green tea) ice-cream. None of us really care for it... It's very overpowering. Also pictured is a car getting towed (hey - you want the FULL experience, right?). Notice how they put the wheels on individual buggy things instead of one flat-bed like we do. The police supervised the process. We learned they don't carry guns here. Japan is a very place.
Saturday we took the bullet train to Kyoto. 
We started at the To Ji Temple which happens to turn into a market place once a month. The picture of Chris eating warabi mochi (basically jellied rice covered in soy bean powder) is at the market. At the market the guys wondered, talked & snacked while Kendra & I did some GOOD shopping. Afterwards we headed by taxi to the Golden Pavilion Temple. The top 2 floors are covered in gold leaf. We were unable to go into the temple, but the beauty is amazing! From here we headed to Ryoanji (Zen Rock Garden). I didn't put any pictures of this in but if you've seen the desk sets of rocks with sand, you get the idea. This was just much much bigger and all rock - no sand. Next stop was Nijo Castle (also not pictured). We were unable to take pictures inside, but the Shogun castle has the nightingale floors that sing as you walk across. I didn't hear all of C&J's conversations but I imagine this may have prompted conversation of them being ninjas with stealth moves & swords... After Nijo, we headed to Heian Shrine & Torii Shrine Gate (they are across from one another). The 4 of us are pictured with the Torii Shrine Gate behind us. We snacked at a 7-11 here. You can choose a sandwich here just like the US, but you can also choose a rice ball which typically has different things inside (mine had shrimp, J's had tuna, etc.) but it's with mayo and wrapped in seaweed. It was very tasty even though I was sure I would be turned off by the mayo. Our last couple of stops included walking up a hill lined with shops and who do we find? That's right! Spiderman is saving the day in Kyoto! Given our family's penchant for superheroes, I had to include this one! Last picture is the view of Kyoto from Kiyomizu Temple. Amazing, isn't it? This temple is supposedly for health, wealth or wisdom (can't ask for all 3). Apparently, people used to throw themselves off the balcony asking for health, wealth or wisdom & if survived, they were considered blessed... How many do you think survived? The other one we went to (the Heian Temple) was for peace. It strikes me that in the US, we can go to church and ask one God for all these things instead of running around to the different temples or shrines asking different gods separately...
