Watercolour, crayon and marker
©2015 Charlene Brown
The day after our Shirikawa visit, we began our
journey to Kyoto on a regular train and switched to the famous ‘Bullet’ at
Nagoya. Our luggage had been sent ahead (because of the unlikelihood of making
the 18-minute, three-level connection in Nagoya if we had it with us) and upon
arrival in Kyoto, as soon as we ascertained that all our stuff was in fact at
our hotel, we went back across the street to explore the multi-level
architectural wonders of the railway station – as if Kyoto, with its 17 UNESCO
World Heritage sites didn’t already have plenty for us to see.
The next day, our itinerary included the famous
Kinkakuji, the Golden Temple, where we looked first at the iconic view with the
reflecting pond, shown here. Then we went right up close – our guide made sure
we realized the Golden Temple is covered with squares of gold leaf, not just paint
– and all the way around the magnificent temple grounds. As with the Imperial East Garden on our first
day, I loved that the serenity was undisturbed by the dozens of workers quietly
maintaining the perfection of everything with hand tools and twig brooms.
