violetismycolor: japan redux...Arashiyama...

We spent that same afternoon...remember this is our first FULL day in Kyoto...going to a suburb of Kyoto, called Arashiyama. It's sort of the 23rd Avenue of Arashiyama (for all you Portlanders)...very chi-chi, very happening.

We started out by eating ice cream...necessary to fortify ourselves for a long afternoon of walking. I had strawberry and vanilla, and John had the green tea and vanilla. Yum.

I was in search of the famed Bamboo Forest of Arashiyama. John was along for the ride. Whatever...that was his attitude.

We came upon a temple, Tenryuji, built in 1339 and wandered through it's lovely gardens. We found the Bamboo grove at the backside of it.

It was lovely walking the path that cut through the long, lean green trunks of bamboo. There was a small shrine, of course. It had a nice, open feel to it, as though it were placed in the middle of a small park.

There were rickshaws coming fast and furious up the narrow lane. We saw a party of women dressed in traditional costume and wondered if it was a wedding party.

As we came out into the commercial area of Arashiyama again, we were amused by the offering of ice cream topped by fullsize donuts (in a cup) for 300 yen, about 3 dollars. If we hadn't already had softserve ice cream, we would have tried it.

We wandered down the shopping street, and I loved seeing all the offerings. The incredible packaging had me excited. I wanted to buy that bottle of wine (above) just for the label. The other cool artwork was on a box and bottle of sake.

We were searching out the Monkey Park for our last touristy stop. John found it on the map. Even if you couldn't read the kanji, you could spot the illustration of the Monkey. We had to walk quite a way but spotted the monkey sign at the end of the bridge and headed up. We had to climb to the top of a hill. By that time, we had been walking for quite awhile, so it was not an 'enthusiatic' hike.

The first monkeys we came upon were 'doing it'...hey, guys...take it into the forest, will ya?

There was a very cute baby monkey, tussling with its mom and crawling all over the equipment. I took tons of pictures to get a couple of good ones. The monkeys were non-stop action.

Long, but fun day...and the weather was awesome. I got a sunburn! Who would have thought that one should bring sunscreen to Japan in March?