Japan - Kyoto

Kyoto was definitely my favorite city in Japan that we visited. Mike found us a cute little house to rent on VRBO.com (Vacation Rental By Owner). It is an old attached home that is nestled on a small road (one car lane) between the main street up to the Kiyomizu Temple and another temple grounds behind it. We were able to walk from the house to the Temple and also to shopping and restaurants.

It was a tiny house - downstairs a small kitchen, dining area bathroom with a traditional Japanese bath. Upstairs two rooms - a bedroom and a tatami mat room which serves as a tv room and a sleeping room with futons. A cute little creek ran behind the house and sounded very relaxing at night.

Kyoto is beautiful as it is surrounded by small mountains. It is a very peaceful place. I feel like there is so much more we could do there - hiking, visiting more Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples around town. Kyoto was the capital of Japan for 1000 years and was not bombed in WWII thanks the insistence of the US Secretary of War Henry Stimson, who had honeymooned there decades before. The Kiyomizu temple, a short walk from where we stayed, was a top 20 finalist in the poll of the new 7 wonders of the world, along with Eiffel tower, Statue of Liberty, Sydney Opera House, and Stonehenge.

Here are our pictures from Kyoto:

Japan - Kyoto

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