Friday evening, I took the night bus to Kyoto again. This time I didn’t walk, but managed to find a spot to park it for the next couple days at the bank right by where the bus stop is located. The walk back was awful last time when I just wanted to be in bed at 4:30 am. The bus was more comfortable this time since there were only three rows of seats with aisle between and I had a window that I could lean up against with my pillow jacket. Plus the sun rose an hour later so it didn’t get bright too early.

I had plans to meet A at Tofukuji station at 8 am, but my bus arrives earlier than that, at about 6:45 am. I rented out a locker (of which there were a bazillion) to dump my stuff in. The main train stations I’ve been to in Japan are huge. Compared with Germany, I’ve seen much more tracks there, but the high rise (16 floors!) shopping malls that are a part of the major stations are astonishing. I decided to walk the twenty minutes to the station in the beautiful weather. I stopped by a convenience store for breakfast which I then ate by the river. I got there shortly before 8 am, when A said she’d be delayed for a bit. I enjoyed strolling through the neighborhood. There was a nearby high school so many students around. I made some girls giggle and say kawaii by replying to their hello. Also got some stares especially from this guy walking his dog whom I passed three times. I think he thought I was lost, ha. But as I proved to A again during this trip, I luckily have a great sense of direction, hehe.

Not my photo.

After we met up, we walked to Tofukuji, a temple known for its maple trees. It has over 200 of them and is only popular in the fall. Luckily, we were there pretty early so it wasn’t that crowded yet. The trees were a bit past their peak, but still quite beautiful especially in that soft morning sunlight! I love the strong reds of momiji. We passed by one of the halls where they were chanting nonstop. We went inside a special exhibition that was just open during the fall in another temple. It had some interesting rock gardens including one with rare red rocks. On the floorboards on the veranda, we could see what they called red maple wood. With the sun shining through the red leaves, it reflected, leaving a reddish glow on the wood. Quite cool!

We stopped at a small local place for lunch, located on a lower floor. It was definitely not touristy. They all seemed really interested that I was there and talked to A and even to me a little in English! We both got udon, and afterwards, the waitress brought us ice cream on the house! We even got a little card with the restaurant on it at the end. Ahh, so kind. We were on a 40 minute walk to Kiyomizu-dera when we realized we’d pass right by Rengeoin Sanjusangendo. Sanjusangendo has 1001 statues of Kannon, the goddess of mercy. Measuring 120 meters, the temple hall is Japan's longest wooden structure. In the center was a large, wooden statue of a 1000-armed Kannon that has 500 statues of human sized ones standing in ten rows on each side. The actual statues only had 42 arms because you subtract the two normal arms and multiply by the 25 planes of existence to get the full thousand. It was stunning, but we weren’t allowed to take any photos inside. We took a walk around the grounds as well. The front gate is painted a pretty red.

We continued on our walk to Kiyomizu-dera which was built in 780 (everything we visit in Kyoto is so old!). The sun started to go down while we were there so again we had such beautiful sunlight on all the autumn trees. The crowds were intense. Part of the temple was under construction which was sad. I ended up buying my temple book here! I had heard about this recently from a friend. At any temple in Japan, they will place their “seal” in your book, usually for a fee. Basically it was a combination of several stamps and calligraphy to represent the temple. Lovely! I only wish I’d gotten it earlier after having already been to so many temples. We also stopped by the love shrine area. There are two rocks there and it’s legend that if you can find your way with your eyes closed from one rock to the other, you will soon find your perfect match. At the bottom is a waterfall, that gave the temple its name, clear water.

We got dessert on the way down along the touristy streets. This cafe did some art on plates using kinako which is roasted soybean flour. Beautiful! I had dango with a black honey sauce. We headed back via bus to the station. The bus line was insane. It took us five buses before we could even board. Once back at A’s stop, we popped by the grocery store to get breakfast together. There were a bunch of pretty lights outside her station. She said she couldn’t understand why there were so many because her area is not a hotspot for lovers, ha. Christmas for Japanese is a romantic holiday with Christmas cake and eating KFC. Why???? We had a late dinner at an Italian place near her apartment, quite yummy! The decor was really nice with high ceilings, and a wooden board floor. My phone died rather early on during the day so no photo of the yummy pasta.