Day Seven – The morning was bright and sunny, and we were out of the house by 7:00 to get to the Toji Flea Market early.
We had a quick walk around the temple, which didn’tcost anything, before heading into the flea market. There were about 300 stalls to look through. Most of it was old junk, though I would have loved to bring home some of the wooden planes. Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to happen!
Jen found more than a couple of stalls selling kimonos and enjoyed looking through them. We also kept an eye out for possible presents and picked up some tasty food, which became breakfast.
Next, Jen wanted a quick walk around Gion, finishing at Kennin-ji Temple. It was a very large temple, but by then all the walking around the flea market and Gion had tired her out, so she sat down while I went inside to have a look.
We also spotted a few little wagtails picking seeds out of the grass. The temple wasn’t particularly graceful, but it was certainly large.
Afterwards, we walked to the train station for our next temple visit. Along the way, we followed the river and saw some river birds for the first time on the trip. Once we were on the train, it didn’t take long to reach Nishi Hongan-ji Temple.
Nishi Hongan-ji was the biggest temple we visited, right in town. We had to take our shoes off almost as soon as we reached the entrance. It’s still an active religious site, and there were training rooms and lectures going on while we were there. The buildings were massive, but overall it didn’t particularly impress us.
By the time we got back to the apartment, it was time to think about dinner. Jen had a rest, then we headed out to a very nice ramen restaurant.
After dinner, we went back to Toji Temple for its night-time display. That turned out to be one of the highlights of the day. We wandered around looking at the lights shining through the maples, which were just starting to turn colour. The lighting brought out the colours even more, and with the temple in the background, it made for a lovely evening.
It was 8:30 by the time we got back to the apartment. A very nice day, and for once we didn’t end up at Nishiki Market buying fabric—though Jane still managed to find some at the flea market that morning!
