The countdown to the end of my escapades has begun...

As the end is approaching I am checking back to what I originally planned to do, trying to identify the things that have not yet been accomplished.  One of these was to visit the Kiyomizu Sannenzaka museum....the what you might ask! Well this museum was one of the contributors to the exhibition of Japanese embroidery that was held at the Ashmolean museum in Oxford.  As with all museums there was no photography so I had to make do with writing my thoughts on each of the twenty-odd embroideries - ending with the second chance to see the one of the red lady ready by candlelight that was much admired in Oxford.  Each one was spectacular in one way or another and at the end I was forced to buy the book!  

The museum also had a permanent collection which featured cloisonne. Now I have studied this type of thing before but never have I seen work of such wonderful quality. The little elements of enamel were surrounded by the finest of gold lines. There were some beautiful little dishes covered with chrysanthemums of different colours - each flower head was less than a centimeter in diameter and every single petal had been outlined in gold - just breathtaking! There was also some wood carving and although this sounds odd for a subject - there was a turnip and stick of celery with foliage - and they were more realistic than the real thing - if you see what I mean!

Anyway - I dragged myself away eventually and set of for the temple of the silver pavilion alias Ginkakuji Temple - by bus! I have learned the hard way!!  The bus was packed and this was the case all day as I was on and off buses to navigate the city.  Once I had disembarked, there was a short distance to walk. Now to start today's images...perhaps the subtitle for the beginning should be fashion! This was a definite load of frou frou and wouldn't have been very warm!

Next in the fashion parade were these two girls dressed up for he day as Geisha. Please note also the rickshaw and in the bottom corner you will see the back of Taro, my 'driver' for I took a short ride in one.

I was about the warmest in the rickshaw that I would be all day - they have little heaters at the back of your legs so with the blanket over you, you are nicely cocooned.

You might think I look a little rotund. This is because I am wearing...are you ready for this....a thermal vest, two long sleeved tee shirts, one on top of the other, a fine knit cardigan, a fine silk scarf around my neck, quite tightly, followed by my crocheted capelet/ponchinello that Ruth made for me for my birthday last year, followed by little black cycling jacket over which I had my (new) purple 3/4 length mac, gloves and top long silk scarf....and for most of the day I was still cold! So no wonder I look a bit chubby!

Next in the viewfinder I picked out this Geisha for the day! I am not sure how much it cost for this get up, but I had asked some of the girls that I had chatted to earlier and it was 4000 yen (over 25 pounds) for the day for a kimono and all the works. Apparently girls come from far and wide to have the experience of kimono wearing as it is only possible to hire for the day in Kyoto. Whoever had the business idea must be very rich as it is extremely popular.

I spotted these youngsters dressed up by the family for a day out together - don't they look cute!

..and of course they were happy to turn around and show of the back view too!

A young lad tying his shoes up - across the entrance way to the bus so he was under pressure to be quick!

I stopped for a snack - it was raining and I had taken shelter nearby - the lure of potato twizzlers was too much for me - but I was amused by the poster beside where you had to pay...Leonardo di Caprio bought a pop ice stick form here!

These were the potato things - spirals - called tornadoes. Tasty!

The rain stopped just in time for when I arrived at the temple - thank goodness to see some blue sky. I just wished that all the people would have got out of the way!

Don't the colours look grand!

Then there was the water garden - also lovely, but they always are!

Here I am trying to be a bit arty!

More kimono stars for the day....

...but I think this sort of thing should rate as the star for nature!

This was a very old part of this temple...

By the time I had exited the temple, and en route back to the bus stop, I was at first intrigued by these sweets - so had to try them - they are rice balls which are grilled then dipped in a not too sweet syrup come toffee. Nice!! I had another later as they helped combat the cold (good excuse don't you think!)

This lad was trying out the tornadoes...he didn't look to impressed!

The next temple is the star temple - perhaps the most famous. Called Kinkakuji Temple - or the temple of the golden pavilion - it lived up to it's name. It was getting on and I had been worried the light might fail before I got there as it was on the opposite side of the city to the previous temple...blue sky would have been good but there you go!

 

It had given way to white come grey, but at least the rain held off.

A long shot from across the pond..

Then picking up other areas of the pond/lake complete with nice cloud reflections...

 - and even some golden glow...

People would throw their money to the statues of Buddha - no doubt hoping for riches of one sort or another in return....

The final photo for today - this tree was looking good - again the light could have been better but a good bit of colour to end on.

Now for a word of warning to you all...you need to start thinking of something else to look at soon as there won't be many more blog entries. Tomorrow night I will do another - and all being well will do something on Friday afternoon before I finish packing up and head out to the airport. If I have missed anything, or get a chance to record anything further, I will post it from home once I had recovered from the journey. Just hoping that all the plans fall into place and that their are no issues to worry about - still, another couple of days of doing yet before the end arrives!