Kyoto, Japan

Five months ago Brian and I were in Japan. Our adventures in Osaka and Nara have already been recorded for posterity, and now it is Kyoto's turn.

Our day in Kyoto began with a bus tour to three different locations. The first of these was Nijo Castle. Built in 1603 this castle was the Shogun's official Kyoto residence. Photographs were not allowed in the Palace, but we took some of the grounds.

The main gate to Ninomaru Palace

The exterior of Ninomaru Palace

As we entered the Palace I was most fascinated by the "nightingale floors" which sing or chirp as they are walked upon. It was an ingenious feat of engineering used to detect intruders.

close-up of a carved wood panel

Ninomaru Garden

Brian and I in the garden

The second stop on our tour was The Golden Pavilion (Kinkaku)--a Buddhist hall containing relics of Buddha. The top two stories are gold-leafed with a Phoenix at its apex.

I must be the daughter of two master gardeners because what I found most interesting here was a 600 year old Bonsai tree. It was amazing.

The last stop of our tour was Kyoto Imperial Palace. Originally built in 794 AD it has been destroyed and rebuilt many times. The present buildings are 160 years old.

The Shishinden (through these red gates) is the most important ceremonial building within the Palace grounds and was used for coronation ceremonies.

Our tour guide insisted that we visit Gion (Kyoto's geisha district) before we left the city, so Brian and I headed that direction on foot. We passed this small Shinto Shrine on our way.

Sadly, it was too early in the afternoon for us to run into any geisha, but we enjoyed wandering through the narrow streets passing tea houses and such.

I gasped with delight when we passed this shop.

It is always a treat to cross paths with beautiful Japanese women in traditional Kimonos.

We ended our day of adventure with bento box dinners in our hotel room.

Christmas in Chile

This will be Travis' first Christmas away from home. He is over 5700 miles away serving as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Chile. . .where it is summer.

The holiday season began for Travis with a baptism.

and a companionship change to a trio.

There's been Christmas kittens and lots of good food.

There's been gatherings and singing and mission partying.

Travis and one of his companions bought a small Christmas tree at the street market in Boca Sur complete with decorations and lights for their apartment.

For a short time they had a full apartment again when Elder I. joined them, but transfers followed a week later.

Now Travis has a brand new companion whom he will serve with for at least six weeks if not longer--Elder G. from Brazil.

On Monday Travis sent us this picture of another sunny and bright baptism day.

Boy, do we miss having our missionary around during the holidays, but he is happy and doing so well. I'm looking forward to my most favorite present of all--a 40-minute Skype call from him at noon on Christmas day!

Merry Christmas!

Enjoy this short video from my family to yours:

Nara, Japan

It's about time I get back to blogging about our trip to Japan. With Osaka as "home base" we took the Shinkansen to Kyoto then loaded a tour bus and traveled an hour or so to get to Nara. Our half-day tour began at Todai-ji (Eastern Great Temple Complex). This area (Nara Koen) is known for it's 1,200 or so tame deer that roam the area freely.

It's pretty crazy and fascinating at the same time. Our tour guide showed us how the deer have been taught to bow before receiving any food from visitors.

Eventually we pulled ourselves away from the deer and ventured further into the temple complex.

This 16-petal flower is a symbol of the Emperor.

This structure houses a 53-foot bronze statue of Buddha.

A gold-leafed wooden disciple sits beside him

while four menacing guardians stand in each corner of the temple.

A curious activity within the great hall is for tourists to crawl through a hole in a pillar that is the exact size of one of the Buddha's nostrils. It definitely gives perspective to the size of the great statue. (Blurry photo, but you get the idea.)

As we exited the temple these school children approached us and asked if we had the time. I proceeded to pull out my phone and tell them the time, but they seemed confused and repeated the question. Eventually, we figured out that they were asking if I had time--time to answer a few questions. Of course I obliged. They asked me where I was from, what food I liked best in Japan, etc. It was a sweet interaction. They then asked if they could take my picture, and of course, I took one of them.

Our next stop of the morning was Kasuga Taisha (a Shinto Shrine).

This shrine is famous for the more than 2,000 stone lanterns that line its pathways. They were gorgeous.

I'm extremely grateful to be able to travel with Brian every once in a while and explore such places in the world.