They flew into Osaka, so we spent the first day seeing Osaka, starting with Osaka Castle.
Actually we had planned to spend the first day seeing Osaka, but as we finished touring the castle, it started snowing very heavily! 
And it appeared that it was going to continue snowing for some time, so we cut our losses in Osaka and hopped on the train to Nara. We checked into our ryokan (traditional Japanese style inn) (it has a great website with pictures of the rooms), huddled around the space heaters for a while, and then went out to visit Horyu-ji, a temple which has some of the oldest wooden buildings in the world.
NARA
The next day we went into Nara. I saw this part of Nara before, so I didn’t take many pictures, except this one of the snowmen in front of the five storied pagoda,
and several of some monks clad in orange. At first we assumed they were Japanese monks, so we followed them trying to get them in our photos! Later we heard them speaking English and we had to conclude that they were also tourists, likely from another Asian country. 
KYOTO
In Kyoto the next day, we started at Sanjusangendo. This place was incredible!! It had 1001 golden statues of Kannon, the goddess of mercy, and statues of the 28 Buddhist guardians with explanations of how they come from Hindu gods. Fascinating! Unfortunately, photos were not allowed inside, so check out this website!
Next on the itinerary was Kiyomizudera and the streets in front of it lined with souvenir shops. We saw this poor dog dressed in its Sunday best.
My father was impressed by the tangle of power lines and I admired this store selling nothing by fans. 
I bought a shuincho, an accordion style book full of blank paper used to collect the stamps from Buddhist temples. It's the souvenir to have! For 300 yen, each temple stamps their seal in red ink, then write calligraphy over the page. The end result is very cool and I intend to bring this book along on all my future sightseeing adventures here in Japan!
Our last stop in Kyoto was Ginkakuji. It's also called the Silver Pavilion, but it isn’t silver, in fact the building itself isn’t particularly eye-catching. We walked by it and followed the path up the hillslope, before realizing the non-descript building was the pavilion! There was a mound of sand in the shape of Mt Fugi, and this abstract sculpture in the shape of waves. It's supposed to be beautiful to see by moonlight...
The next installment: The Konrads go to Okayama, Kurashiki, Hiroshima, Miyajima and Himeji!
In Kyoto the next day, we started at Sanjusangendo. This place was incredible!! It had 1001 golden statues of Kannon, the goddess of mercy, and statues of the 28 Buddhist guardians with explanations of how they come from Hindu gods. Fascinating! Unfortunately, photos were not allowed inside, so check out this website!
Next on the itinerary was Kiyomizudera and the streets in front of it lined with souvenir shops. We saw this poor dog dressed in its Sunday best.
My father was impressed by the tangle of power lines and I admired this store selling nothing by fans. I bought a shuincho, an accordion style book full of blank paper used to collect the stamps from Buddhist temples. It's the souvenir to have! For 300 yen, each temple stamps their seal in red ink, then write calligraphy over the page. The end result is very cool and I intend to bring this book along on all my future sightseeing adventures here in Japan!
Our last stop in Kyoto was Ginkakuji. It's also called the Silver Pavilion, but it isn’t silver, in fact the building itself isn’t particularly eye-catching. We walked by it and followed the path up the hillslope, before realizing the non-descript building was the pavilion! There was a mound of sand in the shape of Mt Fugi, and this abstract sculpture in the shape of waves. It's supposed to be beautiful to see by moonlight...The next installment: The Konrads go to Okayama, Kurashiki, Hiroshima, Miyajima and Himeji!
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