Japan, Day 6: Shirakawa-go

After Kyoto, we headed to Shirakawa-go, a small town famous for their old original style farm houses, called "Gassho-zukuri".  The town has become quite the tourist attraction, as many of the farmhouses allow guests to stay the night and experience an authentic country meal.  The prices are a bit higher than what we were used to seeing (we had been staying in hostels for the most part, as we were out and about most of the time and only needed a place to crash), but with a [huge] dinner and breakfast included, we definitely wanted to splurge on this experience. 

To get to Shirakawa-go, we had to go through Takayama, a town known well for their yew wood carvings, Hida beef, and old-style merchant buildings.  We wanted to spend the night in Takayama, but being on a tight schedule, we decided to schedule the bus trip to Shirakawa-go a few hours out so we had time to walk the town a bit.  We did this on the way there and on the way back.

The husband, eating ice cream (green tea and vanilla swirl) in the snow:)

View of Shirakawa-go from Shiroyama viewpoint.

Old farmhouses with their thatched roofs!

The farmhouse we stayed in, called Magoeman

Cute elderly gentleman who ran the inn with his wife.  The room was really smokey, but not so bad while sitting on the floor.

Our dinner

Part of our dinner--they kept bringing out more food!  Everything was amazingly delicious.  Seen here are a variety of pickled items, as well as vegetables and Hida beef in a dish over a flame.

Fish cooked on the fire

Our dinner-mates.  Ai and Taka (the couple next to us) spoke some English and are great new friends!

I would love to see this place again in the spring or fall.  The snow was definitely beautiful here, but looking at the photos of other seasons makes me want to visit at every time of the year.  The food was exceptional, and staying at a very traditional inn was so much fun.  I would definitely recommend Shirakawa-go to anyone looking for traditional Japanese culture and food.

I didn't get very good pictures of our meal, but my husband did.  Please check out his photos from Shirakawa-go HERE.

Japan, Day 5: Kyoto

Our second day in Kyoto, we decided to see Nishiki Market, a huge [long] marketplace with vendors crammed together selling their wares.  We tried a few delicious treats while scanning the food stands, and took a few pictures along the way.  *Please click on the pictures to better view them!*

Sashimi on a stick!

Next we headed to Nijo Castle, another World Heritage Site.  This was one of my favorite sites on the trip just because the floors were designed to make a nightingale sound (squeak) to keep the occupants safe(r) from sneak attacks!

There was so much detailed and beautiful woodwork. 

After our visit to Nijo Castle, we headed to the west side of the prefecture to check out the bamboo grove.  We stopped for a bite to eat after the short train ride...

We had a few hours until the bamboo grove and the surrounding area was to be lit up with lamps, so we stopped in to see another World Heritage Site, Tenryu-ji Temple.  The grounds were magnificent, and would definitely be a place to see in the spring and fall.  Luckily, there were still some interesting fall colors when we visited.

Finally, we made it to the bamboo grove, which I had been eagerly anticipating for a few months.  We had to kill some time before the lanterns turned on, but I'm glad we got there early.  The line to see the bamboo grove lit up was a couple of miles long--luckily, we only got slowed down leaving.

BTW, the night time pictures are from my husband, thanks to his handy-dandy tripod:)  You can see the rest of his pics HERE.

Japan, Day 4: Kyoto

On our fourth day in Japan, we headed from our home base of Osaka to Kyoto.  With all there is to see in Kyoto (there are 17 World Heritage Sites in Kyoto, and many many more non-World Heritage Sites), we planned to spend two days in the city (still not nearly enough time).  We didn't see a whole lot, but this is what we saw:  First, we went to Ginkaku-ji, aka the temple of the silver pavilion.  While it's not actually silver, it is (according to my mom) the most popular with Japanese people, as it is in a more traditional Japanese style compared with Kinkaku-ji.  Kinkaku-ji, aka the temple of the golden pavilion, is actually golden.  This, as you may imagine, is quite a sight, and very popular among international travelers.  I believe I saw this temple about 16 years ago while on a trip with my parents and sister, but we just didn't have the time to see it on this trip.  Another site to put on our list for our next trip!

Ginkaku-ji was beautiful. The gardens were lush and mossy, and incorporated some impressive sand garden.  How does the sand hold its form?  I'm going to guess hairspray (I think I've heard that they use that in sandcastle-building contests, but I could be making that up).

Sand garden

This is supposed to represent Mt. Fuji...I'm not completely convinced, but it's still pretty neat.

Craig in front of the main pavilion

After our walk down the hill from Ginkaku-ji, we stopped at a little stand to get some green tea flavored treats!  No, the cold won't stop us from having a little ice cream while on our vacation!

Green tea ice cream puff

Green tea cream puff...a little less cold than the ice cream!

Our walk south down the Philosopher's Path led us to several temples and shrines.  Honen-in temple was the biggest one we encountered.  It was beautiful with the fall colors in the trees (in December!), and very serene.

Honen-in temple

Honen-in temple

Honen-in temple

There were also smaller shrines like this...This one seemed to be dedicated to mice and dogs...
whatever the meaning, I'm not completely sure at this point, but it was pretty neat.

Finally, the last stop of the day was Kiyomizu-dera temple.  This place has a great view of the city, and fortunately, we got there just before sunset with some pretty dramatic clouds hanging around.

Kiyomizu-dera temple entrance

Kiyomizu-dera temple entrance

Pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera temple

The back deck of Kiyomizu-dera temple