Kyoto, Sanjusangen-do Temple

So its been a week since I posted last or more! but I have alot of photos this time might make a 2nd post to make it more interesting!

My time so far in Kyoto has been pretty amazing, its a very relaxing city unlike Tokyo which is always busy and very energy consuming! I've been spending alot of time just walking around the city and taking in the country its self more than sight seeing. Not having a plan and just seeing where my feet take me makes it more that interesting when I walk into something that's pretty cool.

Been to a few more shrines and temples and on the 16th the Toshiya (Archery Contest) was on which I was wanting to go to while here in Japan, pretty excited that I managed to get to see one of the festivals I wanted to see!

 Nanzenji Temple

 Sanjusangen-do Temple Archery Festival

Kyoto, Kiyomizu Temple

So decided to go for a walk around town and ended up going up the hill and found Kiyomizu Temple. From this place you can see all of Kyoto spread out below you, the streets going up and down from this temple are pretty awesome as they are all very traditional looking. Once I reached the top the view was alot better than I thought it would be, mainly cause it didn't feel that big a hill that I had walked up. Walking around the top and seeing the view I saw a booth selling tickets to get inside this huge temple, so I paid my 300 yen and went inside.
Big building like this still amaze me because they are all made out of wood and are still so huge.
Was only out for half the day and even though everything was close was still a good 3 hour walk.

Oh and the futons here are AMAZING and comfy <3 futons
That reminds me I have to remember to take pics of food cause food is culture to! thanks to that person who reminded me =)

 Street walking up to the temple

 inside the temple

Kyoto

2 posts in 1 day! cause it's cold here and I was lazy!

I left Tokyo at 11:15pm on a chilly night not to cold but enough for a jacket. Getting on the night bus it was super warm and cozy, found my seat and sat down getting ready for the 7 hour drive to Kyoto.
After 3 hours ride the bus stopped for a break and a drink did this again 3 hours later before arriving in Kyoto, the 1st stop I had my jacket off and thought I would be fine sneaking out to get a drink and go to the loo. After being outside for no more than 3 min I was frezzing, it was probably close to 0 that night.
Now once I arrived in Kyoto at 6:15am I woke up and was all warm and cozy and just had my jacket in my arms, walking down the stairs of the bus  I walked into snow never felt so COLD in a very long time. After this I managed to find my way to the bus stop and find a bus that was near my new home for 6 more days in Kyoto.

Had a wonderful sleep on a futon that night and woke up early to go for a walk around Kyoto. This place is sooo much better than Tokyo it doesn't have any huge tall buildings its all very small and spread out with lots of traditional house everywhere. It felt less rushed here and walking around was alot easier here and more fun even if it was snowing and a little bit cold lol.

 Not very good at taking close shots with a moving bus lol

 This was the morning I arrived

 This is the biggest river in Kyoto

 Bird on a rock in the river

 Random shop

 statues inside the shrine

 Shrine

 Nice house in a street in Kyoto

 This is the oldest Temple in Kyoto

more shots around the temple

Shinjuku and Ueno

Well I was sick for a few days and it took me those few days to get better again before I went back out into the world! Before I left Tokyo I went to Shinjuku which holds the countries Government buildings in and it has the busiest train station in the country there. I just walked around here and looked at the buildings and went into one of their parks before heading off to Ueno also just to have a look around. Ended up having a nice relaxing day walking the streets of Shinjuku and watching the sky turn dark in Ueno before I headed back.

On my way back to Ikebukuro I went into Akihabara again to play some more games and buy a new model to put in my room =)

 Government Building #1

 Government Building #2

 Both Government buildings next to each other

 Street view in Shinjuku

 Street view in Shinjuku

 Park next to the zoo in Ueno

 Akihabara

Sitting behind the water fall in a park in Shinjuku

Tokyo Imperial Palace and Asakusa

Decided when I woke up after hearing that the Imperial Palace is only open 2 times a year and today being one of them I made my way to the train station. I wanted to go to Asakusa as well as it was built during the Edo Period (1603 to 1868) and still maintains that look.

 When I arrived at Tokyo station it was only a 10 min walk to the Imperial Palace, the lines going there came from the west, east and south and these weren't tiny lines they were HUGE. Once I got inside the grounds they had allot of police there, we had to all have a bag search, pat down and metal detector. Considering how many people had come the lines moved pretty smoothly and conveniently I arrived inside the Palace inner walls just on 11am where the royal family made a speech. The grounds where the Palace is is absolutely huge.
 On the way back to the station to go to Asakusa I went into the Yasujuni-jinja Shrine these Shrines are big. The line for people wanting to get into the shrine through the huge wooden doors was at least 20 wide and took a good 15 min from where I was to get into it and pray to make your new years wishes.

Getting to Asakusa was easy and this time all the streets around the Asakusa Shrine were closed off to traffic. Asakua-Shrine was HUGE and I though the Yasujuni-jinja Shrine was big. For the New Years festival there was stands everywhere selling New Year items and bits and peices, gaming stands and then about 80% was food stands. EVERY food stand was packed and allot of the stands sold the same stuff but everyone brought it. The streets were only 5 people wide and some points only 3 wide trying to get anywhere was silly you just had to go with the flow unless you knew where to hop off this train of people. Once inside the Shrine grounds though it was a little easier to walk around and man this thing is big and tall. I brought some noodles and a Asahi beer (no laws with alcohol here walking around the streets) and walked around some more looking at all the stands.

On the way back at the end of the day I ran into the Giant Golden Turd of Tokyo aka the Asahi HQ building and saw the new Tokyo Tower. The old Tokyo Tower which is the red and white thing that looks like the Eiffel tower is only there now because of tourists the tower it self use to be the main telecommunications tower where everything went too, the new tower is meant to be finished this year 2011.

 This is walking into the Palace, this is going into the 1st wall, that bridge is about 100 meter walk before I got there.

 That's one of the guard towers inside the grounds.

 The line of people go all the way back to the buildings in the back ground then twice that for east and west.

 Banzai! as the royal family comes out (we all got Japan flags when coming in)

 The Royal Family

 Me

 The moat inside the grounds, that wall was huge from of the other angels I had pics off.

 The new Tokyo Tower

 Asakusa not very wide

 Asakusa Shrine

 Asakusa Shrine

Asahi Main HQ building, it's meant to be beer froth or something coming out of it, but we all know what it looks like.