JAPAN: Strolling Around Gion

Gion is one of Kyoto's most famous districts. Originally built in the Middle Ages, it was an entertainment neighborhood for travelers and samurai. Well-known for its preservation of authentic Japanese architecture, Gion evolved into one of the most prominent geisha districts in the country. After a fun afternoon stroll through the beautiful streets of the neighborhood, we met up with the owner of our guesthouse who led us, and the other guests, on an evening walk. Ironically, the evening stroll took much of the same route we had just finished traveling, but it was fascinating to see the shrines from the daytime now engulfed in the darkness of the night. The illumination cast by dozens of paper lanterns created a vivid sensory experience. On the way back to the guesthouse, after scouring the darkened streets, we were even lucky enough to spot a geisha in full makeup and kimono through the window of a tea house.

Long ago were the days of cigarette machines in America, but Japan still offers convenient smokes on any street corner.

Who knew you could walk a pig on a leash?

A shrine...or temple. I don't remember.

Old, traditional Japanese architecture.

A house owner proudly displayed her collection of stone Buddhas...

in addition to her stone Hello Kitty!

An ancient pagoda

Now, I'm not exactly sure what figure this is. Nor do I know what the colorful spheres are that were hanging all around it. Nevertheless, it was interesting.

Kyoto loves ice cream and it's everywhere! A variety of unique flavors are available including green tea and something strange in a grayish color. I chose peach/vanilla swirl. Delicious!

We spent too much time shopping and ended up reaching this temple at exactly 6:00 pm... closing time. So, we enjoyed our ice cream while watching the guard try to get the visitors to leave; which proved to be a difficult and frustrating task for him, but free entertainment for us.

Giant Buddha on the hillside

The abundance of lanterns illuminating various temples during our night walk were captivating.

Unfortunately for us the shades were drawn, but the figure in the window really is a geisha. After watching for awhile (and feeling like stalkers) we figured she was preparing the room for a meal and entertainment.