Crowds and Jewel Tones: Autumn in Arashiyama

Hope everyone is off having a good weekend! :) Today's post will be from my day trip to Arashiyama a few weekends ago. Arashiyama is one of my favorite areas in Kyoto because of it's beauty and location, so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to go see more autumn foliage. However, I definitely wasn't the only person going as Arashiyama is one of the most popular places to go to during autumn. If you really want to visit Arashiyama during the fall, DO NOT GO ON A WEEKEND. That is my advice. Go on a weekday if possible. There were so many people there and to be honest, it was a little overwhelming, but I was still glad to have gone. My friends and I started at Tenryuji before walking away from the main street and up towards the smaller temples in hopes of avoiding crowds, but it was simply impossible. Wherever you went, there were huge crowds. It was still quite an experience though! :)

The famous garden and pond at Tenryuji Temple :) 

View from the temple

I thought it was crowded during sakura season, but fall seems to be more popular O.o 

Quick coffee break and I loved their menu display! It was so festive ^^

My friends and I didn't even attempt to go further in because it was so crowded (and this wasn't even on the main street!)

By lunchtime, the crowds looked like this. There were LONG lines outside of restaurants and the wait time seemed to be at least an hour or so. They even had to close off part of the main street because people started to walk on the street instead of the sidewalks.

Heading back to the station and they had these to prevent people from walking on the street.

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! 

Hidden Stones: Ryoanji

Only two more weeks until Christmas!! :) Are you all finished with your holiday shopping yet? I'll admit that I was scrambling a bit to find Christmas presents this past weekend in order to mail them all out this week! But back to today's post ^^

This is a continuation from Kinkakuji and may be the last post from my long day in Kyoto (gotta post some Christmas pictures!). The walk to Ryoanji from Kinkakuji isn't a mere five minute walk, but it's not too long either. It's a rather nice walk along the road and you can see even more trees lining the side in a variety of colors so I enjoyed it ^^

Ryoanji is a Zen temple that also houses Japan's most famous rock garden where fifteen stones are placed inside. However, it is impossible to view all fifteen at once as at least one stone is always hidden from view no matter what angle you look at it. I could only count thirteen or fourteen max!

Heading west from Kinkakuji and followed the golden tree path :)

Heading up the stairs to the entrance of the temple

A much smaller scale of the famous garden that allows you to see all fifteen stones

Followed a path from the temple entrance

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful week! :)

Golden Fall Leaves: Kinkakuji

Christmas is slowly coming and while I have a few pictures of some Christmas lights, that will be for a later post :)

Here is the first of several posts of my twelve-hour day in Kyoto :) My first stop was at Kinkakuji before I walked down the road to Ryoanji and then Ninnaji before meeting up with a couple of friends in downtown Kyoto. From there, we caught train up into the mountains of Kurama and Kifune for the light-ups before making our way back into Kobe.

To be honest, I hadn't ridden the bus in Kyoto until today so I was a little nervous since I was by myself, but it turned out just fine :) The bus stop was only a two minute walk to Kinkakuji and from there, my day started ^^

Already a line of people before the gates even opened. This was around 8:35 and the opening time was at 9:00. 

And this was the line only ten minutes later! Thank goodness I got there when I did.

Because there were hordes of people, including several high schools that were on their school trips. That meant a couple hundred students all rushing to take pictures as well!

Up-close...I couldn't believe that I was actually there!

I've only seen pictures of Kinkakuji so to see it in real-life was absolutely amazing :)

Orange on the left and red on the right with the colors blending seamlessly together in the middle ^^

Just one of a couple hundred students...

If you pay 500 yen, you can sit down for awhile and will also get a cup of hot, thick matcha along with a sweet :)

My wagashi even had golden flakes on it! And the design of Kinkakuji and a crane :)

When matcha is whisked right, it has a very thick and rich flavor and texture to it. It may not be a large cup, but it really hits the spot on a crisp fall morning :)

Had to pick up some munchies as omiyage :)

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful week!