A busy day at work

We're really packing it in with the sightseeing! Our last full day in Kyoto was spent by going for a 2-hour walk in the morning from Fushimi Inari Shrine to Tofuku-ji shrine. The walk goes through more than 10,000 torii gates (pictured below) . The gates are offerings by worshippers, and they cover the hiking trails behind the shrine. At times there were so many torii gates that it felt like we were in a tunnel! The shrine is also famous for the numerous lanterns hanging everywhere (see below right). We also saw some turtles in a lake.



The walk finished at Tofuku-ji which is an important temple in the Buddhist religion. We were particularly interested in the Zen garden (pictured below). Although not as polished and popular as Ryoan-ji that we visited yesterday, this garden certainly had a lot of appeal. And we really enjoyed the peace and quiet away from the tourist hoards of Ryoan-ji!



Getting away from it all backfired though when we went to Todai-ji in Nara (below left), reputedly the largest wooden building in the world. It was swarming with bus loads of school children and tours. Inside, it houses a 15m high buddha and two ornate wooden guardians which were created in 1203 - one of which is shown below.



We also visited Kyoto Tower and Kyoto International Manga Museum.

Very tired and need a holiday now!