Glorious Kyoto

With our driver Takashi at the Golden Pagoda.   They
made wheelchairs available,..very nice!

Kyoto is a city which has always been on my bucket list.  I'm not sure why.  I guess it's because I've never talked to a person who had anything bad to say about it.  It has history; it has panache; it has style; it has class...a place worthy of a visit.  We don't take many shore excursions, partly due to Dwight's limitations, but also due to our travel history which often leaves us less than enthusiastic about visiting the usual crowded tourist sites.

Takashi and Kanako at lunch 

Lunch!

Like a doctor whose family goes without medical attention, as a travel agent I often am late making our vacation plans.  So two days before our stop in Kyoto, I requested a private tour from Tours by Locals.  They came through with a last minute guide, she was able to find a driver, and we were rewarded with a great day.  Our guide was named Kanako, grandaughter of a Geisha.  She had used a taxi driver in Kyoto named Takashi while on another tour and called him up at the last minute to see if he would undertake a private tour, picking us up at our dock in Kobe, driving the hour to Kyoto and touring, and returning us to the ship.  He was a jewel.  They were both perfect companions for the day.

We started at the Golden Pavilion, jockeying with other tourists and large groups from our ship to get the perfect photo.  "Oh, Pshaw," as my grandfather would say.  That just wasn't fun.  So, the next stop on our tour was the Zen rock garden with fewer tourists and a peaceful setting.  Kanako told us Queen Elizabeth visited the site and admitted she didn't understand it, but she liked it.  There are 15 rocks and they told us it is impossible to take in all 15 in one glance.  A contemplative site.

Zen Rock Garden

When I told Kanako how much I enjoyed finding the Shinto shrine in the middle of big-city Kobe, she told us that Kyoto is a city of shrines and temples.  There are over 1800...about 1400 +/- Buddhist temples and 400 +/- Shinto shrines.  Takashi, who is a native of Kyoto, then took us on a tour of some of the nicest local shrines and temples.  To me, it was better than the Emperor's  Golden Temple. 

Looking for love at the Shinto Shrine. Shinto
deals with the happy occasions, like birth
and weddings.  Buddhism deals with
grimmer things like death and misery. 

I even learned how to make a Shinto prayer, a combination of bows, claps, bell-ringing and words.  It's a very nice ritual, and it made me wonder why I hesitate to bow before the altar in the Episcopal church I now attend.  Respect, after all, is respect.  Shinto is an ancient, indigenous religion which venerates nature.  It's polytheistic, if is theistic at all.  I have great respect for it. 

Kanako and Takashi joined us for lunch at a small local restaurant after asking us our preferences.  It was a special meal.  In the afternoon, we visited a much larger Shinto shrine which specializes in marriage ceremonies.  Again, this was almost free of tourists.  As a topping on the cake, Takashi then drove us by the places he thought we ought to see in Kyoto including the Geisha district and the large gate that appears in the movie The Last Shogun.  We returned to the ship a little early after a very full and satisfying tour of Kyoto.  Tours by Locals...great choice!

Waiting for the cherry blossoms

Neighborhood Shinto Shrine

Steps climbed by Tom Cruise in some movie or other :)