Kyoto: Part III

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!! :) I hope you've all been enjoying today with your friends and family ^^ We have so much to be thankful for on a daily basis. I am grateful for so many things such as my family who have supported me in everything that I've done and my friends, both old and new, but I would like to say how thankful I am to be living and teaching in Japan :) It's truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I am so blessed to be able to be doing what I am doing and to be able to travel to wonderful places such as Kyoto. So, without further ado, here is the third part! As before, click on it for a better quality picture :)

If you wanted a different experience other than walking up to the temple, you could plan out a route with one of these men who would pull you along! :) 

Yummy food vendors and shops lined the entire way up to the temple. It's hard to resist stopping to get a sample or even buy something to nibble on ^^

And yes, they had a Studio Ghibli shop!! I'm not sure if I would pay 90,000 yen for Jiji though...

The entire length of ninenzaka and sanenzaka was crowded with tourist from all over as well as locals =]

A rare time where a street was quite empty. I love the old, traditional wooden shops and stores that takes you back to a different era :)

We arrived at the top, with a lot of other people, but the main entrance was so impressive and breathtaking. Many people were getting their pictures taken at this spot to remember their special day~

A different angle shot that I thought was interesting ^^

Once we paid the entrance fee of 300 yen, we followed the crowds to the veranda where hordes of people waited to find an opening to snap some quick pictures of the view. Sadly, a part of the area was undergoing construction so there was blue tarp that covered various places =[

If you wrote down your troubles onto the paper and put it into the water, the paper would dissolve thus symbolizing that your troubles would be over with. 

The oh-so-famous shot of Kiyomizu-dera :) I've gotta say, it was absolutely breathtaking to finally see it in person instead of through the internet. I was so humbled and thankful to be able to experience it :]

We decided to not stand in line to drink the water from one of the three channels of water from the Otowa waterfall after seeing just how long it was...

Although not all of the trees had turned color, the ones that did were so vibrant ant colorful :) 

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and shop safely for those of you who are facing the hordes of shoppers on Black Friday :)