Our second day in Kyoto with SJ and John was fantastic. It started a little later than the day before (we stayed out pretty late drinking in our karaoke booth!), but it really was beautiful. Cherry blossoms were everywhere!
Posing by Kinkakuji - the gold temple. The Japanese 'peace sign' is definitely a habit I'll take back to England.
Ryonaji really surprised us. It was full of さくら. We arrived quite late so managed to enjoy a lot of the grounds by ourselves. I particularly love the willowy style of the huge tree below.
When we had finished with the temples we headed to Gion: the ancient geisha district of Kyoto! We walked through many beautiful streets of a traditional style - and then to Shimbashi. The lonely planet guide book states that this is perhaps the most beautiful street in ASIA, but in the cherry blossom season I can certainly see why. It felt like walking through a tunnel made of cherry blossom, and it seemed like we were undercover!
However, the real highlight was that we managed to see 8 geisha! We saw 3 geisha entertaining men in a restaurant the other side of the river. This drew a lot of attention and even the Japanese people were stopping to take pictures.
When one later walked past us in the street I felt really in awe of her presence. It was a really magical moment and a great part of Japanese culture to see.
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