Kyoto!

Today was pretty awesome! Kae and her Friend Yohei picked me up at my seminar house at 1:30 and then off we went to Kyoto! It was awesome! A little tiring because of all the stairs but absolutely worth it! W e went to 3 different temples.
The first temple had the rows of Tera gates. It was really cool. It was back in the woods so even though it was kind of hot out I was able to manage because of the shade. It was the stairs that killed me the most! The had steep stairs, big stairs, long stairs, short stairs, shallow stairs, and any other type of stairs you can think of! It was a good work out though! The scenery was so beautiful! My camera would never be able to capture the detail and beauty that I go to witness with my own eyes! There were even random cats there! It made me miss mittens... :( I miss my baby!!!
The second one was my favorite. The Golden Temple... Absolutely took my breath away! The Temple was a peninsula in this small lake where small little islands with trees surrounded it. I even saw 2 Iris's. Purple and beautiful! It made me smile and I pointed out to Kae that Iris was my Grandmother's name. Iris is Ayame in Japanese. The Carp in the Lake would, every now and then, stick their fins out of the water it was a very peaceful place! And It totally had less stairs than the last temple! Past the roped off section of the walk-way way a metal bowl and three stones. The bowl was absolutely surrounded! It was like a water fountain minus the water. Kae said that if you get it in the bowl it means good luck! Yohei and Kae missed but I at least hit the bowl. It's not horse shoes though so no luck for me!
The last Temple that we went to was on a slope! So more stairs! But it was still just as beautiful as the other two! This one was on a mountain. The trees were gorgeous! Kae bought a little talisman paper thing which she let me pick. And of course I picked the bad luck one... What I was supposed to do was to fold it once or twice and then tie it to a pole so the bad luck wouldn't follow me. But what happened was when I went to tie it it ripped! So we tucked the pieces into other people's tied up bad luck... We didn't spend too much time at this temple because it was getting dark and they were closing it to visitor but I did get to wash my hands in feet in the washing stations (I don't know what they are called that's just my name for them). The water fountain type things are everywhere at every temple. I thought they were cool. The last temple had a dragon one! Awesome!
After that we drove to a restaurant and ate nabe! What is nabe you say? Kae couldn't explain it more than food in a boiling pot of soup in which you can put many different things in the pot. My interpretation of it was over eating! Between the 3 of us I swear we ate enough food to feed 7 people! But it was absolutely delicious! And I would totally do it again! I pretty much love Kae and Yohei for today! They wouldn't let me pay for ANYTHING! except for the little present that I bought for Jess. But the food and the temple expenses? Not even 1 yen! So I am totally grateful to them for that and for showing me around! It was a really awesome day!
When I got back I rode my bike to Justin's to hang out with him Katsu, Hiroko, and Tiki for a bit. Justin asked Hiroko out on a date. It was cute! Props to Justin! Hiroko and Katsu left early, so Justin Tiki and I hung out for a while before Tiki rode his bike with me back to my place. And now that I am completely tired and it is almost 1 am. I think it's bedtime! Oyasumi!