Holy Kyoto
6/25/10
Today we headed to Kyoto via the Shinkansen train. It took 2 hours and 45 minutes and who knows how many miles! When we arrived in Kyoto it was nice and sunny, but of course that didn't last long. Actually I'm pretty sure it started raining approximately 1 minute after we got off of the bus at one of the shrine/temples that was about as far away from the hotel as we could get. I have to refer to them as shrine/temples because I don't know which is which. I know that one is Shinto and the other Buddhist but decipher them if I had to. I can however tell you the differences when looking at a map because one of them is represented with a swastika and the other with a sign that looks closer to the pi sign (no joke!)
We visited approximately 349823094 temples and shrines today, making this a very holy adventure.
I tried on a pair of the split toe shoes (they call them Samurai shoes here, basically your big toe has a separate section than the rest of your toes, and the shoes are molded that way, so it looks like you are doing some Star Trekkie sign with your feet/shoes) At any rate, they are "good for your health" at least that's what the sales guy said. I tend to believe him since Japanese people are healthier and US companies are starting to model shoes this way (Vibram 5 finger shoes). I felt healthier for the 5 seconds that I had them on. All of the Rickshaw guys (and the few girls who do that) wear these shoes, so they have to be good (since they are on their feet all day, running, pulling at least 1 but usually 2 people in the cart behind them...and in Kyoto that means up and down hills).
That was a long paragraph about the shoes and I just realized that most people wont be interested...but more importantly that I did not take a picture of these shoes. My bad.
I'm exhausted and we have a FULL day for tomorrow...all day tour of Kyoto and Nara...so this post is short. I'll fill you in on tomorrows adventures and pictures when the time comes!
Owen, Mike, and Julie, we have been trying to do better about getting pictures with us in them. Most are on mom's camera so I will upload those later!
Today we headed to Kyoto via the Shinkansen train. It took 2 hours and 45 minutes and who knows how many miles! When we arrived in Kyoto it was nice and sunny, but of course that didn't last long. Actually I'm pretty sure it started raining approximately 1 minute after we got off of the bus at one of the shrine/temples that was about as far away from the hotel as we could get. I have to refer to them as shrine/temples because I don't know which is which. I know that one is Shinto and the other Buddhist but decipher them if I had to. I can however tell you the differences when looking at a map because one of them is represented with a swastika and the other with a sign that looks closer to the pi sign (no joke!)
We visited approximately 349823094 temples and shrines today, making this a very holy adventure.
I tried on a pair of the split toe shoes (they call them Samurai shoes here, basically your big toe has a separate section than the rest of your toes, and the shoes are molded that way, so it looks like you are doing some Star Trekkie sign with your feet/shoes) At any rate, they are "good for your health" at least that's what the sales guy said. I tend to believe him since Japanese people are healthier and US companies are starting to model shoes this way (Vibram 5 finger shoes). I felt healthier for the 5 seconds that I had them on. All of the Rickshaw guys (and the few girls who do that) wear these shoes, so they have to be good (since they are on their feet all day, running, pulling at least 1 but usually 2 people in the cart behind them...and in Kyoto that means up and down hills).
That was a long paragraph about the shoes and I just realized that most people wont be interested...but more importantly that I did not take a picture of these shoes. My bad.
I'm exhausted and we have a FULL day for tomorrow...all day tour of Kyoto and Nara...so this post is short. I'll fill you in on tomorrows adventures and pictures when the time comes!
Owen, Mike, and Julie, we have been trying to do better about getting pictures with us in them. Most are on mom's camera so I will upload those later!
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