I split a stick of tiny octupus with zach in the market between shrines. mmmmm. delicious.
This morning, Zach and I enjoyed some pbjs in the hotel room with a little orange juice. Then we met downstairs at 745 and left for Ise. It took a couple subways to Kyoto station then a couple JRs to Ise. All in all, about 2.5 hours of trains plus some waiting time in between. Ise was very beautiful.
Lots of cherry blossoms spread around and in more of a bloom now than Kyoto. I think it's a bit warmer in Ise. First we went to the smaller shrine,
then took a bus to the main site. Ise shrine is rebuilt every 20 years on sites right next to each other. There are many ceremonies and festivals during the rebuilding and every piece is made just as the last. Once the rebuilding is complete, they dismantle the old shrine and send the pieces off to other shrines to be appreciated in more places. They build a small hut covering the center column of the main building which is only a few feet tall. The cool thing is that Ise is the most sacred shinto shrine ever. That is also the drawback. Of about 5 separations between the outside world and the main shrine, we could enter the first. You can't see past the second. You can see building tops beyond the fences, but that is it.
Everything was very beautiful and serene.
It was still cool to go there despite not being able to see the actual shrine. Between the two shrines we had lunch. It was udon for me. I also had a couple small fresh plain donuts. They were still warm and were very very delicious for my fat face. On the way back, we had to be in the smoking car on teh JR. It didn't bother me much but my clothes have a nice smoky aroma. After a few hours of busses and trains to get back to Kyoto station, a few of us went to the food area under the station and had dinner. I had soba noodles in broth and tempura over rice. It was also delicious. Once dinner was over we took the subway back to the hotel and I find myself recapping on the day and loading my pictures onto the computer. I am pretty excited to have finished my book on the trains. I will be wanting to start the third book soon, although I did read the teaser chapter at the end of the second. I think I will read more of the book that mom got me. I started that on the plane over. It seems very interesting. I am going to wrap up this blog entry and add a few photos. I think I will install picasa and just crank all my photos from the trip onto it because loading them into the blog one or two at a time is crappy.
This morning, Zach and I enjoyed some pbjs in the hotel room with a little orange juice. Then we met downstairs at 745 and left for Ise. It took a couple subways to Kyoto station then a couple JRs to Ise. All in all, about 2.5 hours of trains plus some waiting time in between. Ise was very beautiful.
Lots of cherry blossoms spread around and in more of a bloom now than Kyoto. I think it's a bit warmer in Ise. First we went to the smaller shrine,
then took a bus to the main site. Ise shrine is rebuilt every 20 years on sites right next to each other. There are many ceremonies and festivals during the rebuilding and every piece is made just as the last. Once the rebuilding is complete, they dismantle the old shrine and send the pieces off to other shrines to be appreciated in more places. They build a small hut covering the center column of the main building which is only a few feet tall. The cool thing is that Ise is the most sacred shinto shrine ever. That is also the drawback. Of about 5 separations between the outside world and the main shrine, we could enter the first. You can't see past the second. You can see building tops beyond the fences, but that is it. 
Everything was very beautiful and serene.
It was still cool to go there despite not being able to see the actual shrine. Between the two shrines we had lunch. It was udon for me. I also had a couple small fresh plain donuts. They were still warm and were very very delicious for my fat face. On the way back, we had to be in the smoking car on teh JR. It didn't bother me much but my clothes have a nice smoky aroma. After a few hours of busses and trains to get back to Kyoto station, a few of us went to the food area under the station and had dinner. I had soba noodles in broth and tempura over rice. It was also delicious. Once dinner was over we took the subway back to the hotel and I find myself recapping on the day and loading my pictures onto the computer. I am pretty excited to have finished my book on the trains. I will be wanting to start the third book soon, although I did read the teaser chapter at the end of the second. I think I will read more of the book that mom got me. I started that on the plane over. It seems very interesting. I am going to wrap up this blog entry and add a few photos. I think I will install picasa and just crank all my photos from the trip onto it because loading them into the blog one or two at a time is crappy.
No comments:
Post a Comment