Lots and lots of walking in Southern Higashiyama today and a meeting with the Hotel staff for final wedding details!
Like and good day should, today started with a visit to a nearby bakery to stock up on tasty fuel to keep us going during our long days adventuring. We took the Subways up to Higashiyama station, with the plan being to walk down to Kiyomizu Dera.
Strolling down through Higashiyama towards Shoren-in
Sadly Shoren-in was shut today so we headed down some more to Chion-in, one of the most impressive sights it Kyoto thanks to it’s massive gate.
The impressive, if slightly imposing gate of Chion-in
The gate steps are flanked by some amazing gardens
Who you lookin at?
Lucy, Vicky and Emma, they weren’t as happy when they turned around and saw all those steps!
We made it! I need to lay off the Cinnamon Melts…
Shrine buildings
Purification water
Messing about with the macro function
Me and Emma-san
We ventured inside the main building but no pics were allowed sadly. The priest was currently conducting a prayer ceremony which was really nice to see.
One of the Shrine buildings backing onto the hills behind, was a fantastic sight and I just wish this camera captured how high up it goes!
The platform of the main building, looking towards Hojo Garden, is it bad that FFVII was my first thought when seeing that name?
Cute little bridge, everyone got piccies here
We decided it was time to say goodbye to Chion-in and headed down the hill exit(no steps!) towards Maruyama Koen. Spotted some Autumn leaves still holding on!
Gate to somebodys house, thought it made a cute shot
Water feature in Maruyama-koen. It was strange seeing the trees so bare as this place is famous for cherry blossom viewing
Old vs new in the park, statue wins but the machine did sell very nice hot chocolate
We continued strolling down towards Kiyomizu Dera..
Amazing restaurant garden
Couldn’t not stop by Ishibe-koji
Kurismasu tree! so cute it warranted a photo!
RAWR!
Checking out the shops, cat shop!
Yatsuhashi being prepared, it was mesmerising!
And the big complex itself, Kiyomizu Dera. We left Emmas family here to explore while we headed back to the Hotel for our Wedding meeting.
Cute little Westie having a nap
Awesome little Koi pond in front of a shop, this was literally dug into the street!
Found a Ghibli shop! Totoro-san!
The fantastic decoration of Minami-za Theatre
Wedding meeting went very well, we were a little late back as stations in Higashiyama are pretty sparse! Met the Hotel manager and was presented with his busines card – I hope I accepted it correctly!
We then headed up to the fitting room to try on our wedding gowns, no pics you’ll have to wait for shots from the day! Four our five staff were watching during my fitting and were quite complimentary – they’re awfully kind so i’d expect nothing less, as long as I don’t look like a fat mess I’ll be happy!
Afterwards we headed to the lounge on the 15th floor for a hot drink and meeting witj Yuka and Saeko. We discussed the timetable of events of the Wedding day and got to know them a bit better informally. We’ve known them both so long via email that it was really nice to actually get to know them.
I dragged Em out to Bic Camera in search of a power adapter and couldn’t resist having a nosey in the Gunpla section.
Master-Grade boxes are huge now it’s quite worrying…
Spotted in the wild: PG Gundam 00, what a beast
Moseying back to find the family as it was time for food! The Granvia Hotel entrance is so pretty we couldn’t resist a pic.
We picked this grill restaurant on Asty Road
The gang
Birru for James
And wine for other peeps
Spaghetti with meat sauce, yum!
Nice and full we headed back to the Hotel for a relax in our suite. Ems sister lucy left her hat in the restaurant and our waitress came to find us, impressive as we’d got quite a long way before she did, only in Japan!
Crazy Casino game, I got ruined, loving the Kangaroo pose Amy!
Did ok at poker though! You can’t read someone that doesn’t know what they’re doing!
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