Day 2 Sightseeing around Kyoto

Day 2 started very early as the sun rose very early. i looked at the clock and it was 5.45 Australian time which means it was 4.45 Japan time. too early to be awake. tried to go back to sleep but wasn't very successful so in the end gave up and got up to read about what the day would bring. I read about the temples and other sightseeing possibilities. Cara and Kate were still sleeping and i was still reading. at about 10am i decided that enoguh was enough adn that they should raelly get up. so eventually we got moving and left the hostel at about 11.30am. very late start for the first day and late than i liked but this is what happens when your travelling buddies have had little to no sleep for 2 days.

so we started wandering aimlessly at first and decided on a destination: the Imperial Palace gardens. we walked a fair way before we had decided on this destination so we probably took the long way around. we had a map so it was ok. along the way we saw many interesting places. one man stopped in the street to practise his english with us which was nice.

we made it to the gardens and walked through up towards the palace. it was a beautiful area with lots of people out for sunday strolls, picnics and just general lazing in the early summer sun.

we found the palace and took some photos and then decided we need a break so we found some shade to sit under and had a rest. a rest turned into probably about an hour. after awhile we decided we didn't really have time to just laze about as we were already short for time so we got moving again. we decided on a route that would take us to a few more temples and came across many more interesting things along the way. we found the temples and then decided to return back to the hostel for a little rest before the night's festivities started.