For reasons unbeknown to myself I’m heading back to Kyoto for a long weekend. The place Di and her mother were staying at had a spare room!! And given that it was a long weekend and every person so possible can is heading to Kyoto this was a good sign! Booking tickets with my friendly travel agents JTB also worked out well, snagged for myself one of the last tickets out of Tokyo on the Nozomi Shinkansen Saturday morning, and get this, sitting across the aisle from Di and mum on the way back.

First stop was Nanzenji to meet up with them for lunch. There is something very special about Kyoto as within minutes of arriving the stress and rubbish of Tokyo just started to drain away, after just 30 minutes of aimlessly meandering around taking pictures it felt like I had gone a world away! There were some interesting shots of what you not wear when out Temple hoping. The small garden behind the causeway was open this time, and oddly not busy at all considering how many people were walking around the main temple complex, the changing weather of light rain to brillant streaks of sunshine gave the garden a timeless quality and kept its energy level up. Really time to just open up and absorb it all in!

Lunch of yodofu (simmered Tofu), completed the transformation. Di had been given the inside scoop to head off to Daigo-ji which is a temple in the south west and off the beaten track, and what a gem it was. Links below.

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3916.html
http://www.daigoji.or.jp/e/index.html

The garden (which you are not allowed to take pictures of) is totally stunning and you just want to sit and absorb. By the time we got the small shrine at the top we had the whole place to ourselves. The photos (when uploaded) are here at the gallery.

We had managed to avoid the madding crowds and returning to Kyoto to find our accomodation in North Kyoto we just travelled beneath the thronging streets! By the time we emerged at Kitayama station it was surberbia. The place Casa Nutu is just a little difficult to find and in the dark its quite the challenge but well worth it. The house used to belong to our hostess’s mother and father. She returned to care for them and after there passing decided to open the house up as a small guest house. Its an original Kyoto home and has to double rooms down stairs and two small upstairs. And forget on-suite and private bathrooms, this was a real home and has not been changed drastically to make it work as a small and totally unique guesthouse. I’m not even going to mention how to get there or the phone number – as we are heading back!!