violetismycolor

India and traffic...

The only way I was able to stay sane in the intense Indian traffic was to look away...staring ahead and seeing that there were multiple vehicles headed straight for us was so scary, I just chose to read my Kindle books on my iPad or look out the side window and watch the masses go by. India is filled with so many people...1.3 billion in a space smaller than the U.S....that I felt as though I was in a hive. Everywhere, everywhere there were tons and tons of people, whether in the city or in the countryside. And those people have to get around, and they do...on bikes and scooters and in cars and in trucks. And there is not enough road for all these vehicles, going various speeds, to fit. So, you are constantly passing someone and there is oncoming traffic and there are blind curves, but this does not deter your driver from marching right ahead.

The good news is that drivers in India are not Americans.  The honking going on there is for courtesy, to say, "excuse me, I am about to pass you, okay?"  with an answering honk for "okay!" .  Traffic moves over to give the driver more room to pass.  Oncoming traffic slows down and moves over so that you don't crash headlong into each other.  People drive cooperatively.  What an idea?  

We Americans are in-your-face!-drivers.  We are agressive and competitive.  Indian drivers are not.  They are polite and work together to make the roads work.  This was a big eye-opener.  

Whole families of 5 or 6 people all sit on one scooter, helmetless, and zoom by.  Women in sarees sit sidesaddle behind their husbands, nursing babies on SCOOTERS!  It is scary to watch.  Thank goodness we didn't witness any accidents, though we did see the aftermath of a couple.  

I think we could learn some patience from these people, though I don't wish the driving conditions on anyone.

 

 

 

thoughts on India...part one...

This is one of my favorite India photos, mostly because there were hordes of Indian school children on field trips in many of the places we visited AND they seemed to just love us. 

This picture was taken in Kanyakumari, at the very tip of the Indian peninsula.  It is where the waters of the Indian Ocean, the Bay of Bengal, and the Arabian Sea all meet.  We ferried over a pair of small islands, one with a giant statue of the Indian poet-saint Thiruvalluvar.  On our ferry were these wonderful young schoolgirls, in their blue gingham blouses and navy blue skirts.  They waved at us and wanted to shake our hands.  This was not the first time this had happened to us.  We must have seemed to be very exotic; there were almost no other Caucasians around for most of our trip.

The girls were beautiful and friendly.  When we finally got back to the mainland, the entire group called out a loud "good-bye" to us as we disembarked from our ferry.  

Here are the schoolgirls that mobbed me in Mysore, further north.  We were visiting a temple and these girls all wanted to shake my hand and know my name.  They were really happy when John suggested I take a photo with them.  

All the people we met in India were so nice to us and interested in us.  Some of the time, it was hard to understand their English (their accents gave us trouble) but it was always worth the effort.

more fave Venice pix....

There were so many pictures of Venice that I loved.  

***Click on the photos to have them enlarged***)

We stayed there for 3 days and it wasn't enough.  It was incredible.  From the views out onto the other Venetian islands, from our water-taxi:

 

 

To to views of the Grand Canal:

 

 

 

 

The lovely old doorways and docks (sometimes with lovers sitting there...):

 

 

San Marco and the Square were as magical as they seem when you imagine them:

 

The interior of the Cathedral is all in real gold:

 

Yep, Venice...

Venezia...

I don't think anything can prepare one for the beauty of Venice.  In some ways, it reminds me of Holland...so flat and so much water.  It is awe-inspiring.

 (click on images to see a larger version)

We got to the bus station and started to wander off in search of our Bed and Breakfast, which was called Campiello Zen.  It was enchanting...very small, only 3 bedrooms...and run by a young couple and their year-old son.  The breakfasts were wonderful, their service was impeccable, and it was away from all the crowds.  Only about one water-taxi stop from the Station, it was only steps from the Grand Canal.  

We bought lunch at a little grocery and sat in this plaza and ate it:

On the left is a lovely church, one of many in this city.

John decided it was time for a nap, but I decided to have a little wander, and here is what I saw:

A gorgeous wall covered with Trumpet Vine:

 

 

As I got close to the Station again, I saw this beautiful church, Santa Maria di Nazareth:

This is just ONE church...and there are tons of them...it's hard to get your head around all the money that has been spent on them, how many years it took to create them, how many people have passed through them.  Mind boggling.

I will leave you with one last shot, the our water-taxi stop.

                            

 

 

Finally, the vacation recap...

I know....you're thinking, "Didn't she take that Italian vacation in September 2010?"

Yep, that's right...and I have finally gotten around to going through the trouble of actually processing some of the 2000 pictures I took.  That's right...2000!  I am not mistakenly adding a zero there.  This is what happens when you give a girl a digital camera.  No discipline.

So, we started out with a 24-hour visit to Holland.  We got such a deal on the airfare IF we stayed overnight in Holland...and so, my lovely cousin, Rosemary, agreed to put us up overnight.  

We visited some cousins of my mother's.  They were so welcoming and told me some things I didn't know about my dad's dad...Cousin Bets was a friend of his and would visit with him whenever he went on visits back to the Netherlands

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Rosemary and her sister (my cousin, Mariette) took us to an interesting outdoor art show.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then, we wandered around the beach at Noordwijk, near her home in Noordwijkerhout. The weather was sunny and warm.  We saw this interesting McMansion...lovely, and with a thatched roof but in Holland?  We are seriously infecting the world with our need for these big houses!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was an interesting Sand Sculpture event going on...one example is shown here:  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We didn't do much more in Holland besides go out for dinner and then CRASH...Rosemary even got up with us at 4:30 in the morning to make us breakfast!  Then we headed to the airport for our flights to Rome/Venice.

This mini-trip to Holland reminded me of how much I like this country...we seriously need to go back and do a proper vacation.  Having my incredible cousins there makes it even a bigger treat.  

Tomorrow:  Venice recapped

Cabo redux...

These pictures say it all!  Heaven!

          

Mexico, he we come...

John and I are taking Adam and his girlfriend, Priya, to Cabo San Lucas on Saturday.  We're staying for 5 days/4 nights.  I am really excited about it.  We are staying at a resort called the Villa del Arco.  It has a pirate ship in one of the three pools.  How cool is that?

 

We have two friends who will be house and dog sitting.  We won't have to worry about anything on the home front, so we can really relax. 

I think I will grab a seat on the pirate ship, sip a Margarita, and chill in the on-board jacuzzi...

Japan redux...Kobe...

We made it back north-west up to Kobe, where we would spend our last day and night.  Bonnie had wanted to end up in either Osaka or Kobe, and I was interested in something a little smaller than Osaka...the second biggest city in Japan and a major commercial center.  We stayed in the b-Kobe Hotel, which was very central.  We went out for lunch and had Chinese food, a first for us on the trip.  Kobe has a big Chinese population and the biggest Chinatown in Japan, which I found interesting. 

We were just blocks from the Ikuta shrine, so that was our first stop.  This shrine was lovely and there was a baby blessing ceremony going on.  The day was March 20th, the first day of spring, which is a very auspicious day in the Japanese culture.  So, we saw several families bringing in babies (everyone very dressed up in traditional costumes) and even a wedding going on.

 

Next we walked to the Chinatown area, which was very crowded.  We stayed awhile and decided to come back there for dinner.  Most of the rest of the afternoon was spent reading, cruising the Internet with our free in-room access, and just vegging.

When we did venture out, we came across this cool area where the buildings looked like they had just been dropped in from Paris.  Compare that to the picture after that, which is of the night-time Chinatown, red lantern district.  Who could imagine that these places were just minutes from each other.  Different as day and night...

 

Finally, the photomontage of night-time Chinatown.  The steam from the cooking buns...the neon signs...the gates at either end...the dragon's head used in their parades...kids perched on the various statues that represented the Chinese years...my favorite Piggy trashcan...Bonnie and John buying steaming pork buns...buns that looked like pandas and pigs...food stalls everywhere...these are all the wonderful things we saw there.  What a great way to end our Japanese idyll.

The next day was to be spent riding trains back to Narita, going through the airport routine, and then flying home. 

I loved this trip.  I have to say it was one of my very favorite vacations ever.  The country was so different from most everything I have seen before.  I loved the food and the trains and the people and the red, red, red everywhere.  Thanks Japan for giving me such a memorable visit.

Japan redux...Huis ten Bosch...

We set off the next morning (our wedding anniversary) for a little bit of Holland on the coast of Kyushu, Japan.  Who would have thought?

Huis ten Bosch is a recreation of 17th century Holland.  The Dutch were the only foreigners allowed to trade with Japan for over 200 years, from 1608 to the mid-1800's, and this theme parks celebrates that special relationship.  Since I am 100% Dutch-American and Bonnie is therefore 50% Dutch-American, this was special. 

This Disney-like theme park was opened in 1992, and is a lot of fun.  The rides were sometimes amazing and sometimes silly.  Our favorite was a space movie, which all the spectators 'starred' in.  On entering, you have a 3-D facemapping and then your face appears as one of the characters in the film.  John was especially prominent as a "Ranger"...you couldn't miss him.

There is even a special train to take one there from Hakata Station in Fukuoka.  You can see my reflection in the train window, as I take the photo:

 

The place is gorgeous!  And we were there for the Tulip Festival.  You walk in and see this!

 

We really enjoyed the incredible floral display.  Can you tell that I adored all the tulips?  Here are some of the things we saw.  You really almost felt like you were in Europe...except for all the Japanese employees, speaking Japanese...

Japan redux...Dazaifu...

We spent the next day at Dazaifu, which was a 30-minute train ride from Hakata.  Dazaifu was one of Japan's major town from about 600 to 1200.  Now it is famous for its series of Temples and Parks. 

I loved the ice cream sign we saw that said "Born in America since 1948"...huh?  I have never heard of Blue Seal Ice Cream.  Is it really supposed to be American?

The various temple buildings were beautiful.  I was sad that we had missed the flowering plum trees.

Oh, and I don't know what the red gourds were supposed to be.  Any ideas?

We also found this man doing a show with his monkey.  He had it doing all sorts of tricks, including jumping through this set of rings.  It was fun to watch.  I did wonder if he had gotten Mr. Monkey from the monkey park in Arashiyama.

Japan redux...Fukuoka and Canal City...

We left Tsuwano at about 11 am and headed back over the mountains to connect with our train...the train that would take us off the island of Honshu and south to the island of Kyushu.  We were headed to Fukuoka, previously known as Hakata.  Once we got off the local train, which stopped at every single little town, and where we unexpectedly met up again with our French/Japanese friend of the night before, we booked it onto the bullet train again.

We got into Hakata station at about 3 pm, found our hotel, and settled into to our modern (!) rooms...meaning no traditional Japanese toilets but the high-tech variety with a heated seat, bidet, shower (?), and other assorted gadgets.

John settled in for a nap and Bonnie and I wandered off with our books to a coffee shop close by.  Where we whiled away the afternoon in supreme caffeinated happiness.

For dinner, our new-friend-from-the-night-before, Jean, had us told that Fukuoka was known for their 'yatai', which are little open trailer stalls where they cook noodle dishes and where you pull up a stool and eat, right there on the sidewalk.  Cool.  As some of these stalls could be found near Canal City...a Japanese super-mall where I wanted to go...I was thrilled.

The pictures below are of John looking into the stalls for food ideas, and of our stall owner/cook (who was a 'big fan of Jack Bauer...bang, bang' as he told us).  Beside him is his assistant cook, and out on the street was his brother, who was like a carnival barker...his job was to stand there and beckon folks in to eat.  You can't tell from the photo, but our cook had a long ponytail and tattoes, and also had a love of Harley Davidsons (once again, his limited English was all he needed to tell us everything he loved about America...Jack Bauer, guns, motorcycles). 

I ordered the 'Many Pork' bowl, while John and Bonnie both had the 'Many Onions' bowl.  Both had noodles, pork broth, pork slices, and green onions, but mine had tons of pork, while theirs had less pork and more green onions.  And they were all delicious.

 

We finished dinner and headed into Canal City, which had about 5 levels.  Entertainers worked an outdoor stage in the center.  Water shows, Vegas-style, came and went.  We were entertained at the Cold Stone Creamery there by 3 enthusiastic female employees, who sang 'Camptown races', including all the doo-da, doo-da's in English (though they didn't speak English).  

   

Really cool. 

Japan redux...Tsuwano...

We ventured from sunny Miyajima inland to sunny Tsuwano.  Tsuwano is the site of the Taikodani Inari Shrine, one of the most important shrines devoted to the Inari, god of grain and protected by the spirit of the Fox.  I wanted to see Tsuwano after seeing photos of the gorgeous main shrine there, with its enormous rice rope hanging across the front. 

One walks up a hill, past a 1000 Torii gates, to the magnificent front gate of the shrine.  It is mid-mountain and the views are spectacular.  We saw monks performing rituals inside the temple.  The day was lovely and bright.  

 

We had gotten into town the afternoon before and wandered about, finding the Catholic Church still standing, where 22 people were martyred for their faith. 

 And there were the town's famous carp, swimming in the canals...put there during WW2 just in case they would be needed to feed the people.  Now the people feed them.  We bought fish food and tried feeding them, but they are very slow and if the food gets behind them, they just don't have any speed to turn.

There were interesting bronze statues of men in crane costumes, doing some sort of dance...or maybe it was combat...who knew?

   

At dinner in our minshuku (inn with Japanese style toilets!), we met the most interesting man.  He was half-Japanese and half-French, and we invited to join us for dinner.  He was raised in France, but had come to Japan most summers growing up.  He is doing a 2-year stint working in Tokyo.  He gave us some great insights into the Japanese character and could answer questions that we hadn't found anyone else to ask.  This was a crazy fun dinner.

Tomorrow, moving on to Fukuoka...

japan redux...Himeji...

  On our next day out, we headed to Himeji, whose wooden castle is one of the few original ones in Japan.  When we arrived at the train station, we saw a gorgeous embroidered carriage on display.  The first photo in the montage has the detailed embroidery work. 

And the sign for the "Renewal Festival" had me mystified.  Are they going to renew themselves into Redheaded, Green-Eyed Westerners?  The fascination with Western looks it pretty apparent, though they don't want to sit next to you on a bus or train, if you're a Gaijin (i.e. Westerner).  What is THAT about?

We just missed the tourist bus that would take us to the castle, but the walk was fine and we saw some interesting tidbits along the way.  First:  why is there a statue of a fat,naked saxophone player?  And then a few steps down, a statue of a naked woman?  Okay, Himeji...what is your fascination with naked Westerners?

The manhole covers all over Japan were pieces of art, but I especially liked this one in Himeji.

We came upon a big marching band, following these guys wearing Japanese cartoon character costumes.  John makes a new BFF. 

And of course, the soft serve ice cream.  It is EVERYWHERE.  And again, note the western features on those ice cream sales-kids.

 

We did finally get to Himeji-jo, the Castle.  The city itself was nearly totally destroyed by bombs during WW2, so it is amazing that the Castle remained intact. 

It is called the White Egret Castle, because of it's white exterior, but I thought it looked like a giant wedding cake perched on its hill.  Gorgeous and with gingerbread trim.  Who knew they did gingerbread in 1581, when this castle was built?

No matter, it was beautiful.

 

It was impressive defensively and was a gorgeous place to live.

We next wandered down to the Koen (Garden) that is attached next door.  Every garden 'room' was exquisite.  At least I thought so.  John was incredibly bored.  Here are 3 of the areas that I photographed.  

      

I would have liked to have lingered but my hubby and the weather conspired against me.  It had gone from full sun to cloudy to sprinkles.  So, off we went.

Oh Himeji, you were beautiful, despite the fat, naked guy...

end of Kyoto area, day three...Nara...

We left the Fushimi Inari Shrine of my last post, and got back on the train to Nara.  We were there to see the 53-foot-tall Buddha (called the Daibutsu) at the gigantic Todai-ji Temple. The statue was dedicated in 749, and is the biggest bronze statue in the world.  

The deer were out and John was foolish enough to buy deer cakes for them.  As he reached for his wallet, all the nearby deer made a beeline for him.  Apparently, they have seen his kind before.  They chased him down the avenue while he threw deercakes hither and yon, trying to divert them from biting his behind.  Didn't he notice the posted sign that showed children crying while deer massed around them like vultures?

Inside the Todai-ji Temple, the Big Boy was surrounded by all sorts of scary statues that were meant to protect ex-Emperor Shomu (701-758), who built the Temple and had the Buddha made and renounced his title to become a monk.  

Almost as scary as all the grimacing giants inside the temple were the trees outside, whose roots could not be contained under the ground (apparently) and looked like snakes.  I can imagine that if you wander around there after dark, those scary, snakey roots will come up and grab you and drag you to who-knows-where.

Probably off to be eaten by some famished deer that didn't get enough cakes the afternoon before.

We wandered back towards the train station, on the wide sidewalks and even in tunnels that went under busy streets.  In one of them, there was this cool panoramic of the evolution of Nara from 1300 to 2010.  

We finally came upon the site of the 5-story Pagoda, part of the Kofukuji Temple grounds.  Unfortunately, any photo I tried to take of the Pagoda was terrible due to backlight and rain.  But I did get some photos of the Nanendo (Southern Octagonal Hall), constructed in 813 and is significant because it is Temple Number Nine in the West Japan 33 Temple Route.  It is only open one day a year.

At last, we got close to the train station. Check the photos below.  The streets were really rainy, but as all over Japan, they have covered shopping everywhere.  And so much really cool stuff.  If John hadn't been there, I might have lingered over these cool pink handmade purses, and bought one.

We actually went into a Pachinko Parlor (found all over Japan) and it would have been fun to stay but they are SO LOUD that we might have gone deaf if we stayed.  Are many Japanese people driven to deafness by their Pachinko habits, I wonder?

later day 3...Fushimi Inari Shrine...

We finally jumped on a train and headed south.  First stop the Fushimi Inari Shrine...The Inari are the gods of Grains and Rices and it is traditional that these shrine are guarded by foxes.  So, instead of Lion-Dogs guarding their entrances, there are Foxes.  There are over 1000 Torii Gates here and you climb up the hill through them.  It was rainy, so even the monks were carrying umbrellas. 

Japan redux...day 3 Kyoto...

John was relaxing that particular rainy morning, so I went out wandering.  I came across Rokkaku-do Temple, one of the oldest temples in Kyoto.  The name means Hexagonal Temple and the hexagonal stone in front of the main building marks the absolute center of Kyoto. 

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?

japan redux...Heian Shrine, Golden Pavillion...

Thank God that John is so great with maps, because I KNOW that I would not have been able to find my way around Kyoto by bus. 

We got up on our first morning in Kyoto to a 'Western Style Breakfast' at our hotel, the really wonderful Hotel Gimmond Kyoto.  Their idea, though, of a western omelet, was a tiny triangle of egg, mixed with some sort of herb concoction that I could not identify.  That, with toast, coffee, and salad, made up our breakfast.  Enough to eat, but not really satisfying.

John got us to the nearest bus stop, many blocks away, and we ventured onto the local Kyoto bus system.  The pass for all day access was 500 yen, or about $5.  Pretty good deal.  Here is John finding our way to the Heian Jingu (shrine), and a look at an ad for what I guessed was the 500 yen bus pass.  They love cute-sy characters here.   

We found the Heian Shrine, fronted by the largest torii gate in Japan.  It was built in 1895 to celebrate the 1100th anniversary of the founding of Kyoto, or Heian-kyo as it was known then.  It is a 2/3 size replica of the old Kyoto Imperial Palace that was built in 1227. 

  

We were really amused by the Japanese schoolgirls, who loved to have their photos taken.  In the collage, you can see one group of said girls that I just had to snap a photo of.  They weren't posing for me, but they were so cute. 

Across the street from the Heian Shrine was this cool building, which turned out to be the annex to the Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art.

 

We went into the main museum, in a boring, modern building...but went into the Museum of Traditional Craft.  It was free!  And incredibly interesting (to me, John read his book in a corner).  They showed all the arts from painting and personal-shrine-building to taiko-drum-building and garden statuary and EVERYTHING in between. 

Our next stop was across town at the Golden Pavillion, so called because they actually covered it with gold leaf. 

 

Kinkajuki was built in 1397 when Ashikaga Yoshimitusu began to build this villa as a retreat, and when he abdicated in favor of his son.  It became a large complex of pagodas and temples.  The Golden Pavilion itself has three floors:  floor 1 is the palace floor, floor 2 is for samurai, floor 3 is a temple.

The whole complex is lovely, full of opportunities to toss or place any stray coins one may have, as offerings, of course.  John tossed some of his pennies onto a mat laid out among some statues outside.  I pulled the bell at the shrine, calling the gods to listen up.  It was a gorgeous morning.

But we were hungry.  So, we found our first (what we called) noodle joint.  Mostly, they had rice bowls with various ingredients, that at first we couldn't identify.  We were changing buses and found this small restaurant on the street we were walking down.  When we walked in, some schoolboys (uniformed up, so identifiable) just about lost it seeing 'gaijin' here.  Apparently, they don't get a lot of tourists.  Luckily, many of the menus in Japan come with pictures, so we just pointed to a couple of things that looked good and took what we got.  Which was delicious. 

 

more...next post...

japan redux...Nijo-jo...

That first afternoon in Kyoto, John took a nap but I wandered off to Nijo-jo, a castle. The "-jo" is the word for castle.  Castles in Japan are made of wood and don't really look anything like the European variety. 

It was a pleasant 15 minute walk down the comfortable Kyoto streets and then this massive castle complex came roaring into my line of sight. 

The first thing you see is one of the corner towers.  There was a tree with lovely hot-pink blossoms in front, which made a good picture, I thought.

  You walked through some very large and impressive tower gates and then saw the main reception area of the castle complex, with the Ninomaru Palace at the center.  Ninomaru was the Palace for receiving visitors. 

The detail of the painted carvings above every doorway was so beautiful. 

After taking a tour of that building, I explored the courtyard.  There were a pair of bells, with dragons at the top.

  I wandered out to the garden, which was at one side of the reception area.  There was this odd, straw sculpture there. And of course, the ubiquitous lantern. 

Wandering on further, there were dozens of other large buildings, all exquisitely decorated, and acres of park.  The buildings were called the Honmaru Palace, which was the more private area of the castle.

It was so magnificent.  And you didn't feel as though you were in the middle of a large city.  Kyoto has 1.5 million people. 

Nijo-jo was built in the 16th Century and was used as the headquarters for official business and as a residence for the Tokugawa Shoguns while they were in Kyoto.  If you ever get a chance, go see it. 

Here is a copy of the castle map, so that you can see how large the complex is.  And note that the whole thing is surrounded by a moat.

Japan redux: Shinto shrines...

    We saw SO many Shinto Shrines.  There are 800 shrines in Kyoto, alone.  (And 1300 Buddhist temples, but that's another post.)  You enter through one of these Torii Gates, which represents the boundry between the world of the body and the world of the spirit.  The rope also represents the sacredness of the object, and (as here) is hung with sacred paper.

  

 Next up is the fountain where one is supposed to watch one's hands, pouring the water over them.

 

Inside there is a small temple building where only the priests are allowed. 

 

Which is guarded by creatures, generally  lion-dogs.    One has it's mouth open and the other closed.

 

One stands in front of the alter, pulls on the bell cord to ring it, claps (bell-ringing and clapping are both meant to make the gods pay attention), and then you pray.

Here one can buy a fortune, which can be good or bad.  The bad ones are left here, tied onto a rope or a tree twig, in order to leave the bad fortune behind.

You can also buy a wooden plaque to write prayer requests on.

These things are present at every shrine. They are lovely.  And wonderful, spiritual places to be...

This particular shrine was right next door to our hotel and was not on any map.  These shrines are EVERYWHERE.