Australia

Well, I have been back from my three week Australian adventure for a few days, so I better start writing. It was absolutely the trip of a life time. I did and saw so many amazing things I can't possible write them all. Oh, well...here goes...




I landed in Sydney bright and early on the morning on July 4, 2007. An extremely good friend from college, Carolyn, who now lives in Sydney, and was gracious enough to pick me up at 8am with her five kids in tote. Although, I was in desperate need of a shower and a change of clothes we hit the ground running. Over the next couple of days, while I was waiting for the Kitty Hawk to come in (Colby's aircraft carrier, in case you didn't know, that was the whole reason for my trip) Carolyn took me around the city and showed me all the tourist attractions and some of the local spots. We saw the opera house, Manly Beach, Darling Harbour, and the Sydney Zoo. I had an outstanding time with her. It was so great to see her and spend time with her family. On July 6th, Colby was allowed to leave the ship. The Kitty Hawk actually docked on the fifth, but Colby had ER duty the first day. Carolyn again graciously took us around the city before dropping us off at the hotel later that afternoon. Colby and I ventured out and ended up at the Sydney Aquarium. I have never been a huge fan of fish, but this was an amazing aquarium. We got to see a platypus, he was very cute and active. But, the highlight of the Aquarium was the absolutely huge aquarium you walk though. It had different kinds of sharks, stingrays, and sea turtles. Very cool. That evening we walked around downtown Sydney and an area called The Rocks. The Rocks is a small, charming area full of little restaurants, shops, and pubs.


The next day was a busy one with an extremely early start. We were climbing the Harbour Bridge. The Harbour Bridge is the huge arch bridge you see in any picture of Sydney Harbour. It takes almost four hours to climb to the top. They put you in jumpsuits and harnesses and attach you to the bridge. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to bring a camera, in fear that we would drop it on the traffic below us. However, they graciously took pictures for us that we could buy for only $15 each. But, we had to buy one. We got a great picture of us at the top with Sydney Harbour below us, Opera House and all. After the climb, we ventured back though The Rocks where they were having a Saturday market. It was full of local vendors selling local treasures. We bought quite a few Christmas presents. That evening we went to an opera, at where else...the Sydney Opera House. We saw the opera, Il Trovatore. It was in Italian, we couldn't understand a word...thankfully, they had subtitles. Afterward, we stopped at a local restaurant and had dessert and coffee. Perfect ending to the perfect day.

The next day we met up with Carolyn and her husband, Gary and their sons Riley (7) and the twins, Zach and Oli(2). Colby took Gary and Riley for a tour of the Kitty Hawk and Carolyn, the twins and I had a long, leisurely lunch.


For our last day in Sydney, we actually went outside the city to the Blue Mountains. The mountains are named because the eucalyptus trees emit an oil into the air so that the mountains appear blue in the horizon. Anyway, we were going into the Blue Mountains to see the Jenloan Caves. We first stopped at a famous landmark called, Three Sisters. The weather was rainy and cold, but the clouds parted in time and we manage to catch a glimpse of this famous rock formation. That afternoon was spent touring Lucas Cave. It was fun to get outside the city and go exploring. Unfortunately, our time in Sydney was up. Colby had to go back to work and my Australian adventure was just beginning. We both loved everything about Sydney. It was nothing like we expected. It doesn't have that big city feel. It was extremely clean and everyone was incredibly friendly. It was one of the highlights of this trip.


The next day, bright and early, I caught a flight to Adelaide. Since Colby had to go back to work, I was spending the next ten days with three other Navy wives: Karla, Meridith, and Leah. We landed in Adelaide before noon and were checked into our hostel by early afternoon. Now, we were faced with the dilemma, what is there to do in Adelaide? Well, since it is winter and Adelaide is a coastal town, the answer is...not much. We found a wonderful farmer's market downtown and bought all sorts of fruit, vegetables, and bread. This was food for our two day car trip in a few days.

The next day was our wine tour. We were in Barossa country, famous for it's wines. We started the tour by visiting the World's Biggest Rocking Horse. Of coarse, there is a catch...it doesn't rock! Funny, huh?! Well, if the rocking horse wasn't exciting enough, there was a petting zoo. We got to feed and pet the kangaroos and wallabies. Very cool!! Then it was back on the tour bus to head to our first winery of the day (we visited four wineries). Jacob's Creek was our first stop. We sampled fourteen different wines! This was an excellent winery, because this is wine that is readily available here. While the other wineries had much better wine, they only distribute locally. The Groovy Grapes wine tour was a huge success. We loved every minute of it. We had an outstanding tour guide, J.R. and there was only one other person on our tour. It was a fabulous day.




The next day (Thursday, July 12) we rented a car and started driving southeast toward Melbourne. Between Adelaide and Melbourne there is a stretch of highway along the coast called the Great Ocean Drive. The road follows the coast all the way and along the drive you see spectacular coastal scenery including rugged cliffs, small sandy coves, spectacular rock formations, rainforest, and even mountains. We started early and by the afternoon we made it to the Grampian Mountains. We stopped the car on numerous occasions for those fabulous picture opportunities (and once when Meridith got pulled over for a $300 ticket from one of Australia's finest!). We even went on a few hikes. One of my favorites was MacKenzie Falls. The views were breathtaking from both the top and bottom. We continued driving down to the coastal town of Warrnambool. The drive was a little father than we had anticipated and we didn't get there until around 9pm. Our first priority was food. While eating fruit and bread all day was very cost efficient, we were starving! This was one of the only nights we didn't have hotel reservations, and we really didn't think it would be a big deal. Warrnambool was a pretty big town (comparatively speaking). We asked the manager at Taco Bills (yes, this is where we choose to have our evening meal) where was a nice, but cheap, place to stay. The manager seemed a bit concerned that we didn't have a reservation anywhere and it was late. So, he took it upon himself to call quite a few local hotels and he found us a room. He actually got us a really good deal! So, thank you to the manager at Taco Bills, we had a wonderful stay in Warrnambool!


The next day was adventure packed, but this was one of my favorite days! We started the day early. Warrnambool is known for whale watching. So, we got up and headed to the beach. Unfortunately, the wind was incredibly strong that day creating a lot of white caps. So, even if there were whales in the distance they would be hard to distinguish in the rough water. The next stop on the Great Ocean Drive was The Bay of Islands. This part of the coast is actually known as Shipwreck Coast. The coastline's waves and jagged cliffs are responsible for causing more than 80 shipwrecks in less than 40 years. The wind and waves have carved innumerable arches, tunnels, and columns from the limestone. We stopped at so many viewing platforms throughout the day, I would bored you to tears to show you them all. Instead, here are my two favorites: London Bridge, although it has recently fallen (1990) was still a magnificent sight. My second favorite was the Twelve Apostles. These pillars, once arches, have been molded by the ocean, only seven pillars remain. The second half of our drive was through Otway National Park, which consist of 31,500 acres of rainforest. We spent most of out time looking for koalas out the left side of the car (where there was a forest of eucalyptus trees) and looking at the beautiful ocean views from the right side of the car. Late that afternoon we arrived in Melbourne. Again, anxious for a good meal.




After exploring Melbourne the night before, it was back to the airport for our flight north to Airlie Beach. We were spending the last five days of our Australian adventure on the coast by the Great Barrier Reef. One of my favorite things about this leg of the trip was actually the airport. We flew into Proserpine, the cutest, smallest airport I have ever seen. There are only about two flight per day at this airport and almost everyone is a tourist going on a beach holiday. The airport (inside) consist of a check-in counter, a metal detector, and a small cafe. The rest is all outdoors under the sun...the terminal, baggage claim and waiting area. We land in this huge 747 (or something like that), walk out on the airstrip, through a chain link fence, we are now at the front of the airport where the taxis have all lined up for us. They load our luggage on to big flat bed and with a ATV bring it through the chain link fence and drop it off in the parking lot. Funny, but it worked really well.


We checked in to our hostel and went to explore Airlie Beach. Really, there is not much to report. Just your small little tourist beach towns. Lots of restaurants, clothing stores, and souvenir shops. Since it was a Saturday, we had dinner and then hung out at a bar the rest of the evening. We met some very interesting individuals. Everyone was extremely nice. Only on a few occasions did we met someone who wasn't too fond of Americans. Sunday, we did what everyone does at the beach...nothing. We relaxed, read our books, and ate some really good food. On Monday, we were suppose to be leaving on a three day/two night diving cruise around the reef and islands. So, on Sunday afternoon we called to confirm our trip. As it turns out, our trip was canceled three weeks ago and no one tried to get a hold of us. But, they could put us on the another identical trip that left in exactly 20 minutes! So, we were off like crazy women. We had to square things away at our hostel and quickly pack our bags. Somehow, we managed to do it. We get to the boat and Meridith takes one look at the boat and says, 'no way!' The boat was your standard diving boat, not a sailing boat like Meridith had envisioned. There were about 30 people boarding the ship and almost absolutely no outside area. Now, both Meridith and Leah were complaining that they weren't going to spend three days cooped up in small quarters with 30 other people. Me, that what I was expecting. I have gone on dive trips before, the boats are never glamorous, they are dive boats...you're are there to dive. Well, after a little debate, we decided not to get on the boat. We plead our case to the men in charge at the marina. They claimed we should have no problems getting our deposit back(still haven't gotten it back). So, it was back to the hostel to plead for our room back. The men who ran the hostel were so helpful. We explained the situation to them and they helped us line up two great day trips instead. The first day trip was a trip out to the Great Barrier Reef. As it turns out, the boat we had originally signed up for, doesn't take you to the Great Barrier Reef, just the outlying parts. So, we really lucked out. We sailed out to Knuckle Reef. There we docked to a huge pontoon they have permanently stationed there. They have a huge snorkeling area, a water slide, glass bottom boats, and of coarse...scuba diving. Since I was the only certified diver in my group, I left them to go snorkeling and I went for one of the most exciting, unbelievable dives of my life! The marine life is amazing. I would be busy swimming and checking out all the unbelievable coral around me, just to look up and discover I swimming with a huge school of beautiful, huge, colorful fish. They were everywhere. If anyone has ever seen the Disney movie, Nemo, it is just like that!!! Towards the end of the dive, our dive leader pulled a clam off the bottom of the pontoon and started flipping it in his hands like a coin. Almost instantly, one of the biggest fish I have even seen swims up (they call him, Wally). Apparently, Wally has been around the reef for years and has gotten quite used to the divers. So, here he swims up, begging like a dog for the clam. He swims with us for awhile and even lets us pet him. Again, another highlight of the trip!!!



On our last full day at Airlie Beach we took another day trip. This was our sailing adventure. We went around Whitsunday Islands. The Whitsundays are a group of 74 islands situated within 100 miles of each other, just 31 miles from the harbor. Almost all the islands are national parks and have beautiful white sandy beaches. It was a fun relaxing day, sailing and laying on the beach. What a life! Oh, one of the best parts was I saw a few whales. There were a couple throughout the day, one was only about 100m from the boat.


On Thursday, July 19th, we left behind Airlie Beach and headed south to Brisbane to met up with our husbands again.


On Friday, Colby and I headed to the Australia Zoo. This is the zoo of the Crocodile Hunter. It took a little longer than we had anticipated to get there. Part of the train line was under construction, so we had to take a bus for the last 30 minutes. Anyway, the zoo was amazing! It was much smaller than I had envisioned, but the quality made up for it. In almost all of the exhibits there was a zookeeper there to talk about the animals and answer any questions we might have. Many animals they let you touch. We were able to touch a koala this way. The only thing that disappointed me was there crocodile show. I guess my expectations were just too high. I thought because this was home of the Crocodile Hunter, the croc show had to be outstanding. It was nothing spectacular...just average. They only brought out one crocodile, Monty. He was absolutely huge. But, that was it. They did have a snake and bird portion of the show as well. But, again, nothing special. But, the zoo did have a huge kangaroo petting zoo. Colby was loving it. I think at one time he was feeding four kangaroos. Later on, the zoo gives you the opportunity to hold a koala. I was not about to miss that opportunity. So, I got to hold Jafar. While he is extremely cute, he smelled awful! And, those cute little koala hands have some pretty sharp claws on them. But, still a great experience!







On Saturday, Colby and I again left Brisbane and headed to Moreton Island. Moreton Island is the third largest sand island in the world. We stayed at the only resort on the island, Tangalooma Wild Dolphin Resort. Because they are the only resort on the island, they totally take advantage of the tourists. Everything was so expensive. But, we came for a good time, and that is what we had. We didn't get to the island until almost noon. We signed up for some afternoon tours. First, we went sand tobogganing. Yes, we went sledding down a huge sand dune. I have to admit, I was pretty scared about this activity. I wasn't scared of sledding down...I was scared of sledding down in sand. Sand burns really hurt! So, they drive you out into what they call , 'The Desert.' A beautiful area of white, soft sand where the wind has created these huge sand dunes. They give you a small piece of pegboard (minus the holes...sorry, I don't know the official name for that stuff) and a piece of wax. We had to wax our boards so they move in the sand. Then, we climb up this huge, and I do mean huge hill of sand (and I thought climbing Mt. Fuji was hard). Got onto our tiny, waxed up boards and slid down the hill. It was a blast! My only regret is I should have kept my mouth shut the first time down! What fun, what fun! Then later that afternoon we rented ATVs (they call them Quads in Australia) and went on a drive over the island. They had a few ATV courses set up. Colby, since he is an old pro when it some to ATVs, was having the time of his life. Since it was my first time, I kept things a little slower. That night, we feed the wild dolphins. This is what Tangalooma is famous for, feeding the wild dolphins. In the 90's one of these dolphins started taking fish thrown to her from the dock. Since this initial interaction, other dolphins in her pod have joined in the nightly feeding. Tangalooma now has about eight dolphins that come regularly. Tangalooma is very protective of these dolphins. They want to keep them wild and wary of humans so feeding is very limited and we are not allowed to touch the dolphins, just feed them. We are allowed to wade in the water up until our mid-thighs. The dolphins then swim up to met us, it is then that we can give them some fish.



Sunday, we decided to leave Moreton Islands early. We enjoyed out stay there, but the cost of everything was ridiculous. Plus, the Kitty Hawk was leaving a day early, so Sunday was our last chance to souvenir shop! We had a great afternoon shopping and exploring Brisbane. I got my Australian opal and Colby got his Didgeridoo.

Well, that is my three week Australian adventure. I had an absolutely fabulous time. I hope I get a chance to go back!!!









Below is a picture of the Kitty coming into Sydney Harbour. It is all there from left to right, Kitty Hawk, Opera House, and Habour Bridge. You have to look close...but, it is all there!

Climbing Mt. Fuji

Well, I did it! I climbed Mt. Fuji. I won't say it was one of the most exciting adventures. It was hard, it was tiring, but it was worth it! I signed up with a few girls I know for a night climb. We left Atsugi at 7pm on Sunday, July 1st and arrived at the fifth station at 10pm. The fifth station is where most people start their climb, it is about half way up the mountain. There is no possible way to climb the whole mountain in a day. Actually, quite a few start at the fifth station and stay in resting shacks along the way. The shacks are warm and dry, you get a sleeping bag and a hot meal and stay the night. We just decided to climb straight though. There are a total of 10 stations, we started at the fifth. The 10th (the summit) is at an altitude of 12,776ft.

After a quick restroom break and purchasing our walking sticks, we were ready. The walking sticks, are just that...walking sticks. At each station you pay about $2 and they will brand your walking stick with a marker. It just shows that you have made it to that station. It is a really neat souvenir to bring home. So, about 10:30pm our adventure begins. The reason for doing a night climb is to see the sunrise while you are on top of Mt. Fuji. Plus, the weather is much, much cooler! We had quite a few difficulties along the way. One of my friends was having severe trouble with the altitude, then she started getting panic attacks. Honestly, she probably shouldn't have been climbing, but she hung in there. Because of my friend, we had to go extremely slow. The average climber can make it to the summit in 4-5 hours. It took us eight! We didn't make it to the summit before the sun came up at 4:30am. But, I think we were the lucky ones there. The people who made it to the top had cloud coverage and they didn't get to see the sunrise. We were about 500m below them at station 8.5 and had a beautiful view! As usual, the pictures don't do it justice.

Then on the way down, my other friend fell and hurt her knee. So, we had to go extremely slow on the decent as well. All in all, it took us 12 hours of hiking to climb Mt. Fuji. I really don't have any desire to do it again. It is a very hard climb. At times (actually about 1/2) the trail is huge rocks that are at least a 45 degree angle. You have to use your hands and literally climb up the mountain. The other half is loose rocks and dirt, so like walking on the beach. There is a lot of drag.

The Japanese have a saying about climbing Mt. Fuji, "A wise man will climb Mt. Fuji once, a fool will climb it a second time, and a white man climbs it a third."

Moving....again?!

Yes, I am moving again. Ugh! However, I am staying within the country of Japan. The Navy has decided to move us from a support facility, Kamiseya to the main navy base, Atsugi. I don't know why, who knows why they do some things.

Anyway, I get a call this afternoon...about 2:30ish, I actually thought it was a prank call. They housing office is telling me that within the next couple of weeks, they want us out of Kamiseya and on Atsugi. Overall, I am happy about this move. Kamiseya, while the houses are quite large (ours is 1400 sq ft), is about a 30 minute drive to Atsugi. And everything is on Atsugi: groceries, gas, post office, restaurants, etc.. but, we will have to downgrade quite a bit. Our new apartment will about only 900 sq ft. Thankfully, I did manage to get a bottom floor apartment, so I will have a small backyard attached to my apartment.

The best part about this move is I have one week. Yes, one week to organized everything. I am leaving for a three week vacation in Australia on July 3rd. So, literally, the day I return from being gone three weeks, I have a pack out (packing up my house and moving). What fun, what fun! Well, no one can say my life is uneventful!

Tokyo Disneyland

On Saturday, May 12th, we headed east to Tokyo Disneyland. It was totally spur of the moment and after a few wrong turns we finally made it!!!

It was Colby's first time at Disney, so I dragged him on all the classics: Small World, Jungle Tour (in Japanese), Big Thunder, and Space Mountain. It is just like any other Disneyland, except, we were the only non-Japanese people around. We do understand the curiosity the Japanese people have about westerners and by now we are getting used to the stares. However, nothing had really prepared for Disneyland. By the end of the day, we were actually starting to feeling like part of the show. At the beginning of the day we were easily laughing it off, but after 6-7 hours, it gets a little tiring. The worst, but also the best, were the little kids. The adults would causally look away as you caught them, but the kids would just stare away. I even had a couple incidents when they would touch me when I wasn't looking. My favorite was a little girl in line at the Jungle Ride. We were in those wooden dividers, waiting in line for the ride. I was looking at Colby, who was on my left. Suddenly, someone pinches my right wrist. I immediately think somehow it's Colby, so while I am asking him why he pinched me, it happened again. Colby then informs me that a little girl is the culprit. The little girl immediately hides behind her mom. At this time, the lines starts moving, so we head in opposite directions. But, because we are still in the windy line we eventually meet up with her again. She is still hiding behind her mom and I still don't see her. The line quickly moves again and as we were walking away I catch her peeking out, I smile and wave and so does she. The next time (and last) we walk by them in line, she is all smiles. We really had a good time and can't wait to go back!

BadMan Ball and Hail & Farewell Dinner

Colby and I have had a few Navy activities over the past few weeks. There really is never a dull moment living over here.

On April 21st, Colby and I went to our first BadMan Ball. BadMan Ball is a yearly formal given for CAG-5. It was a good time had by all. The evening started at the CAG's house (Colby's boss). We went over for cocktails and conversation. We then all walked over to the O'Club (Officer's Club) for an evening of food and fun! It's always fun to get dressed up, I don't care how old you are.

A few weeks later, May 7th, we went to our first Hail & Farewell Dinner. This is just simply a dinner to welcome in the new guys and say 'goodbye' to the old. Since we are new to the CAG staff, it was Colby's official "Hail." The dinner was held at Don tei, a shabu-shabu restaurant. Shabu-shabu was a new experience for both of us. You sit at a table with a big pot of boiling water in front of you. You add raw vegetables and noodles. Then you take a piece of raw meat and swish it around in the water (to cook it)and enjoy! Once the vegetables are cooked, you can use the water for soup. It's very similar to fondue. It was very good! We were so full by the end of the evening!

Our vacation in Kyoto

Last weekend (April 27th-29th), Colby and I took a three day weekend and went to Kyoto. Kyoto became the capital of Japan in the 8th century and remained the central hub for over 1,200 years, until the capital was moved to Tokyo in the mid 19th century. As you can imagine, there is so much to see and do. Colby and I had a busy three days and we only began to touch on the different attractions. As I tell you about our busy weekend, I'll try to give some history on what we saw. I will try my best not to be boring.

We started on Friday taking the bullet train from nearby Yokosuka. It was a two hour train ride west until we reached Kyoto. We arrived early afternoon, so we started our sightseeing early. Since most of the temples and shrines start closing around 4pm, we decided to stay close to the hotel. Our first destination was one of my favorites, Toji Temple. Toji Temple was constructed in 796 by the emperor, Kammu. The most famous attraction here is the pagoda. This five-story pagoda is the tallest in Japan standing 180 ft tall. However, it wasn't built until 1644. After walking through the many building and temples at Toji we headed north to Nichi Hongan-ji Temple. Unfortunately, most of this temple was under renovations so we were limited on what we could see. The Nishi Hongan-ji Temple is the headquarters of the Jodo Shinshu sect of Buddhism and is one of Japan's most important temples. While it isn't one of the most decorative temples to look at, you could sense the importance of the temple from the Japanese. When we were there, hundreds of Japanese schoolchildren were inside praying. As we were leaving the grounds, they all started to emerge and quickly filled the courtyard. By this time it was already past 4pm, so Colby and I focused our attention to our stomachs. We were starving!! We only shared some sandwiches on the train and we were ready to eat. After much debate, we finally decided on a resturant at the train station. Train stations here are nothing like anything in the states. The bigger train stations ususally have huge shopping areas, tons of resturants, travel agents, salons...you name it, it's there. The meal was excellent, we both tried our first Japanese pizza. The crust is a mixture of cabbage and egg (to hold it together), we had ours topped with pork and then it is cooked on a griddle. Nothing like we have ever had before, but it was good! Later that evening, we headed back to Toji for some pictures of the pagoda lit up at night.

Our second day was sooo busy. The night before, we went through our maps and travel books to make some sort of itinerary. By the time we reached our first destination, we realized we had planned way too much. We decided to enjoy each attration and just see what we could. We still managed to see four different temples and even catch a show. Or first stop was Nijo-jo Castle. Nijo was built in 1603 as a residence to the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. It was later passed to the imperial family in 1893. While Toji is my favorite, Nijo-jo ranks right up there. We were able to walk through the palace and see what life was like for the shoguns. What was so neat about the palace were the floors. Ieyasu was a little paranoid about unexpected visitors so he had "nightingale" flooring installed. The floor was specially constucted to that the boards would squeak underfoot...and they really do!! It was really neat, if you stood on one spot and bounced up and down, barely any sqeaking...but, lightly walk and they chirped away. We also got to see the shogun's audience chamber (where he would greet his visitors) and his private residence. All these rooms are lavishly decorated with hand-painted screens and ceilings. It is amazing how bold and viberant the painting were for being 400 years old!! After walking around inside the palace we walked around the gardens. You would actually have to see the Japanese gardens to understand how beautiful they are. There is not one spot that is left uncovered. Under the trees they plant different mosses so you don't see any dirt. There are so many different types of trees and bushes something is always blooming. The gardeners maticulously groom the trees and grass. I even saw a gardener raking the gravel path to get the few fallen leaves out of the gravel.
After Nijo, we were wanting to head to Ginkaku-ji Temple; however, we jumped on the wrong bus. We ended up heading west instead of east. No worries, we adjusted our itinerary and headed to Kinkaku-ji Temple (Golden Pavilion). As soon as we walked in the gates at Kinkaku-ji two Japanese students approached us and asked us if we wanted a tour...free of charge. They were university students studying English and were wanting to practice. We gladly accepted their offer. The current building is only a copy, the orginal was burnt down in 1950 by a deranged monk. They rebuilt the temple in 1955. The temple was orginally a nobleman's house. The shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu acquired the house and transformed it into his retirement villa in 1397. After the shogun's death it was converted into a Zen temple. The entire temple is convered in gold-leaf and Japanese lacquer, hence the nickname, Golden Pavilion. As we were receiving our wonderful tour, the wind picked up, the rain came down and the thunder boomed. While the weather wan't at it's best, we still enjoyed our tour and the temple. We got back on the bus and headed east, back to our orginal destination Ginkaku-ji.

Ginkaku-ji Temple is also known at the Silver Pavilion. The shogun Ashikay Yoshimasa built Ginkaku-ji in 1482 as his country retreat. He intened to cover it with silver leaf to create something similar to the Gold Pavilion (built by his grandfather), but he ran out of money. Nonetheless, the temple and the grounds are still worth seeing. The grounds had quite a few Japanese Zen rock gardens. There is a tree-lined path that winds up the hill to a gorgeous view of the grounds and Kyoto. By the time we reached Ginkaku-ji it was still raining; however, by the time we left, the sun was out again!!! We left Ginkaku-ji and decided to take a walk down the Path of Philosophy (Tetsugaku-no-michi). The path is a famous 1km trail next to an old canal. The path links two famous temples Ginkaku-ji in the north and Nanzen-ji to the south.


Our next stop was Eikando Zenrin-ji Temple. The temple was founded in 856; however, most of the current buildings were built in the 15th century. While the main temple, Amida-do Hall, is quite beautiful, my favorite was the Taho-to Pagoda at the top of a huge hill. The views of Kyoto were amazing!!


As we were leaving Eikando, we were stuck...it was getting close to 4pm, we were extremely tired (our day started at 8am) from walking all day. Plus, we were getting tired of seeing temples. So, after a short debate, we decide to head to Gion. Gion is Kyoto's old entertainment and geisha district As we were walking down Hanami-koji (main shopping street in Gion) we came across Gion Corner. There were tons of people congregating outside a heavily decorated building. We stood back and observed for a few minutes. Most of the Japanese men were wearing suits, many Japanese women were wearing kimonos, and then there were a bunch of tourist in their tourist clothes (khakis, t-shirt, backpack and camera around neck). We noticed a ticket booth so we knew some kind of activity/show was about to happen. The cheapest tickets (unreserved) were less than $20 a ticket, so we decided to take a chance. We soon found out we had just bought tickets to the annual Miyako Okori or Cherry-Blossom Dance!!! When the capital was transferred to Tokyo, Kyoto planned to hold an exposition to retain the dignity as the ancient capital of Japan. In 1872, the Miyako Odori was performed for the first time. The top Geiko and Maiko of Gion entertained the public with their performance. Since then, the Miyako Odori has been performend every year. This year was their 135th annual performance. In case you didn't know (I didn't) the Geiko and Maiko are otherwise known as Geisha!! Our unreserved seats gave us a chance to experience yet another cultural difference. There were no seats! The third balcony was full of pillows, just take off your shoes and take a seat. We had an absolutely wonderful time. The stage was U-shaped with the floor seats in the middle of the U. The bottom of the U was the full stage and flanked to the left and right was the 'band.' The geisha played traditional Japanese instraments: drums, flutes, and guitars. The geisha danced for about an hour, performing different dances and acting out folk-lore stories. Currently, this experience tops my 'favorite' list. I have never had an experience like that, and proably never will again. Colby and I couldn't believe how lucky we were to just stumble on it.
After the performance, we decided to walk around Gion for awhile. Since it was after 6pm, we did see a few geisha, quickly walking from one building to another. After a long and exciting day we headed back to the hotel.

Sunday, our train left at 2pm, so we had plently of time to visit two more temples, Kiyomizu-dera and Sanjisangen-do. These were the two temples that were at the top of my 'to do' list. We started at Kiyomizu-dera. This temple is actually in the running to be one of the new "Seven Wonders of the World." It definitely has my vote. The temple was established in 798; but, the current buildings were built in 1633. The main hall is perched on top a cliff on a massive framework incorporating 139 wooden pillars. The veranda sticks out over a huge valley giving you the most amazing views. Our second and final stop in Kyoto was Sanjusangen-do Temple. It was founded in 1132, but rebuilt in 1266 following a fire. The name Sanjusangen is named for the number of spaces between the pillars of the hall (sanju-san means 33). If you haven't guessed, this temple is huge!! It is 118 meters long (about 130 yards)!! In the 12th century, archery tourments would take place here. The archers were able to hit their 1m target from 120 meters away( from the northern to the southern corner of the temple). There are still archery tournment held here every year. However, it is not the size of the temple that makes it famous, it is what is inside. Inside the temple there are 1,001 statues of the Buddhist diety, Kannon. There are 1,000 standing statues of Kannon and one giant seated staute. It is said that everyone should be able to find their own face in at least one of these many statues. 124 of the statues were made in the 12th century, the remaining 876 were made in the 13th century.

Sorry for such a long blog, but we saw and did so much in three days! Even the train ride home was exciting. Check out the view we had from the train window!! Mt. Fuji!!