After checking out of our hotel, the day began with a walk to the Kyoto Handicraft Center to look at pottery and pick up a few gifts. Then we swang by Kyoto station to get train tickets to Hiroshima for the afternoon.
I spotted another Yodobashi store and picked up a 128GB SDHC card for my camera — I like to keep two copies of photos while traveling (one on the card and one imported on my computer) until I am able to upload everything to CrashPlan and AWS Glacier.
Kinkaku-ji 金閣寺
But the highlight of the day was the Kinkaku-ji, the Temple of the Golden Pavilion. A 40 minute bus ride to the outskirts of Kyoto, Kinkaku-ji is actually a reconstruction of the original Zen Buddhist temple that burned down in 1950. The bright color comes from real gold leaf. Gold was said to "purify any pollution or negative thoughts and feelings towards death."
We made our way back to the city center for a late lunch before taking the Shinkansen to Hiroshima.
