Here and there but not quite everywhere!
After waking up at the Hyatt Place Kyoto one last time, we returned to Tokyo via Shinkansen. We had some time before our flight from Haneda so we visited the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace, near Tokyo Station. After a nice lunch nearby and some more snacking at the ANA Lounge at Haneda, we end our fantastic 11 night trip to Japan!
Continue reading “Tokyo Imperial Palace East Gardens”
Our last full day in Kyoto! After waking up at the Hyatt Place Kyoto, we headed out to visit Enko-ji and Shisen-do nearby. We also made a late lunch reservation for Kani Doraku‘s nearby location. Afterwards, we ended the day with a visit to the Shinto Shimogamo-jinja.
Continue reading “Enko-ji, Shisen-do, and the Shimogamo-jinja”
After waking up at the Hyatt Place Kyoto, we took the train down to Nara to spend the day. We saw many of the ancient capital city’s very tame deer and visited Todai-ji and Kasuga Taisha. While there was some fall foliage to be seen, it wasn’t nearly as good as what we’ve seen in Kyoto on this trip.
Continue reading “Oh Deer, a Day in Nara”
We started out the morning by heading up to Shogunzuka Seiryuden from the Hyatt Place Kyoto where we have been staying. After enjoying the view and garden, we headed back down to have lunch at Sanjo, north of Gion. After an excellent meal, we visited Shoren-in and Chion-in before ending at Yasaka-jinja. We had a nice matcha snack in Gion before heading to dinner near Kyoto Station.
Continue reading “Higashiyama High and Low”
We left relatively early from the Hyatt Place Kyoto by bus to Ginkaku-ji, the Silver Pavilion, where we enjoyed the temple and a bit of fall color. We followed up by walking along the Philosopher’s Path which was unfortunately well past peak. We headed from the path’s south end to get lunch followed by a visit to nearby Eikando Zenrin-ji where the maples were plentiful and the colors were much better! We then walked to Nanzen-ji, which had some fall foliage. After walking around the area and the Keage Incline, which apparently is much better for cherry blossoms than fall foliage, we had a quick dinner and headed back to Eikando Zenrin-ji for the evening illumination event.
Continue reading “Ginkaku-ji to Keage via the Philosopher’s Path”