Stan in the upstairs restaurant where we found some sweets.

Crowded streets in Kyoto near the Kiyomizu Temple.

Ceramic tile cats on this store.
Yes, when we're on our own, we tend to go crazy!

These famous Kyoto fans are only 1000 yen.

This is ONE plant, trained like bonsai to grow wide across this porch.




This little statue bowed her head up & down.

Stan in the bus parking lot.



An interesting looking coffee shop through the window of the bus, but no time to stop. We're on to our next tourist stop.

As we leave the bus parking lot, another tour bus comes in. It had blue lights on the front, blue glass and was painted blue all over. It's name was Blue Bus. Makes sense.


Going down the a two-way street that our very large bus (and many other buses) have to maneuver to leave this tourist area. It was really exciting when we passed another bus on their way up.




Pretty girls in kimono

Passing another shrine or temple -- Kyoto has many, many of them.


There's writing on the concrete fence posts.






Busy street scene in Kyoto.

Through the bus window, we see an interesting-looking business -- Old American West?






Now our bus is parked and we're walking toward the Heian Jingu Shrine. I remember being in this park before, but I don't remember the "tree huggers" in this park. There were lots of people enjoying the beautiful weather today.


This is the entrance to the Shrine. Our guide said we could not miss it and he's right!

Inside the shrine, you can buy film or disposable cameras from this machine.


Fancy handrail.













A bear spits out water to purify your hands and mouth as you enter the sacred grounds.

Colorful detail of the buildings at Heian Jingu Shrine.

Colorful buildings in the Heian Jingu Shrine, which was constructed in 1895 to commemorate Kyoto's 1100 year aniversary. It is a 5/8 scale reconstruction of the original Imperial Palace, built when Kyoto was founded in 794. Although the present Imperial Palace is now in Tokyo, it was originally in Kyoto, which was also called Miyako.

These short trees look like blooming cherries, but their bare branches are covered with prayers and fortunes.












Young Shinto priests? Shrines are Shinto, and Temples are Buddhist, but most Japanese practice both.

Inside the grounds of the Heian Jingu Shrine, they're setting up for a huge live concert. Our guide said the band is a very popular R&B band. They were even setting up TV cameras.



A large treee branch has been wrapped & supported, and the large tree thrives.

Stan looks at the board where you can hang your prayers and fortunes.




Dragon purifying fountain on the other side.















This is one very long branch that serves as a canopy to walk under. It is very good luck to walk under a pine branch. You can see the tree trunk on the right side.

Inside the women's toire, which I found by following the "WC" signs. This is a holdover from European influence, "water closet." Notice the smaller seat that is up -- I'm assuming this is for small children, so they can sit down & not fall through . . .



This beautiful lantern was outside the restrooms.


















Another shot of the pine tree with the very wide, proped up branches for walking under.

There were more seats being added, so this man is measuring to be sure they are exactly the same distance apart.

Leaving the Heian Shrine & looking up the street toward a gigantic torii gate. The traffic was already beginning to get heavy because of the concert tonight.







Yep -- here we are and the sun has set.

We stayed on the 5th floor & this beer machine was near the ice & other beverages.

Underground parking outside our hotel. We stayed at the Kyoto Holiday Inn, which is above a shopping mall. The main desk is on the 3rd floor. We never really saw what the outside next to the street looked like because our bus dropped us off and picked us up at this back entrance.



This tree was outside the entrance to our hotel.



















We've taken the hotel shuttle down to the Gion District to sightsee and eat some dinner Saturday night. I thought this beautiful balcony above the street was interesting. It was difficult to take pictures because of the crowds of people on the street.

Interesting restaurants. The first one is a "to-go" place -- looks like they serve octopus, among other dishes. There were many, many restaurants along this very narrow street in the famous Gion District of Kyoto.












The second one is the entrance to a sit-down place. It's difficult to tell, but the smaller stones are covered with water and you step on the larger stones to enter. We had a delicious dinner, upstairs next to a window overlooking the river, but for some reason, I didn't take pictures inside. Guess maybe we were just too hungry and tired . . .?

Driving away from our Kyoto hotel Sunday morning for more sightseeing. The trees are starting to turn colors here.
















This woman is using her parasol mounted to her bike to keep off the bright autumn sun.

Street scenes near our hotel.



Homes facing the river.






Sunday morning traffic.