2018 Incredible Japan – Day 11 Part 2

KYOTO – gardens by night

Walking back to Okayama Station – more plastic food reminds me that I am a tad hungry. We are having lunch at this station before two more train journeys takes us to Kyoto.

We check into our hotel – Kyoto Itoya Hotel – a very nice hotel situated on a main street and close to stations. The room looks nice and clean and the bed is very comfy – always a good sign of a great stay.

We have about 3 hours of down time before we head out again to experience the Autumn Illumations of Eikando so I going to make the most of it and relax. Time sure goes by so fast and soon we are meeting in the hotel lobby to head out into the night.

Arriving at Eikando Temple – the crowd is building but it is not a pushy crowd – everyone seems to be polite so far – – I hope it stays that way.

Our first sight of the illuminations – WOW.

There is a large Temple complex here amongst all the trees but my main focus tonight is the wonderful Autumn colours by light. As I stand and admire the beauty, a lady starts to pick the leaves off the trees and when she sees me looking at her she gives me a rather embarrassed look and puts the leaves on the ground. Too late now darling they are not going to regrow – you may as well take them with you.

I will just put in some photos so that you can see how wonderful it is – what a wonderful night – not too cold – clear skies and the moon looking down on us.

Every now and again you may get a glimpse of a temple – but with the main lights concentrated on the trees it is hard to work out what temple is what.

Every time I visit a new place for the Autumn colour I think it cannot get any better – but it does and I am amazed all over again.

There are a couple of little bridges amongst the trees that make excellent models, where you cannot walk and some bridges you can walk over to get those incredible shots. Photography is ‘banned’ from these bridges due to the amount of traffic and you need plenty of patience as there is a queue and there are officials on these bridges that keep on saying “Move along – no photos” but everyone stops to take a photo or two before being asked politely to continue their journey. These officials understand and as long as you don’t whip out a tripod they are obliging.

Have you noticed a trend in my travel blogs? When I first started I chose a limited amount of photos, maybe because it was all film and I did not take as many – now it seems that there are more and more photos for you to enjoy – thank you to the inventor of digital SLR’s. Just a thought!

As we are nearly at the end of our stay at Eikando, I will just add photos – no need for me to add any commentary – you should by now get the drift of what this place is like.