Kyoto, Osaka, and Nara (Continued)

After the Kinkakuji Shrine, we walked on over to the Rock Garden, which was in Ryoanji Temple, and everyone was all snappish at me because we could have taken the bus instead of walking and I was the only one with the bus map... oops hehe. It really wasn't that great as rock gardens go (there were only like 2 rocks), but the scenery was gorgeous! The picture with the umbrellas is with the Dr. Seuss-like trees.

After the Rock Garden, we took the bus back toward our hotel and stopped off at the Imperial Palace in Kyoto. Sadly, it was closed for lunch hour, and we didn't want to wait around, so we just got some pics of the outside.

We really wanted to get over to Osaka by this time, but we still wanted to see Toji Temple. So we went over there, found out it was 500 yen to get in, and decided we could just get pics outside of it. Megan and Spencer both tried to get these mini good luck charms thingies, but I think they jinxed themselves because they put in yennies instead of 100 yen coins like they were supposed to. They just bought themselves some bad luck.

This was a super creep pawn shop we tried to go into on our way from Toji Temple to Kyoto Station. The storeowner basically told us to leave. And Spencer got pooped on by birds. haha

We finally made it to Osaka. We checked into our hotel, which was pretty nice, and the person at the desk eyed us and was like "Can I see your voucher?" He was very suspicious when we didn't have one, it was kinda funny. Then we went right over to Osaka Castle using the subway, and this is a picture of us trying to figure out where we're going. Then there's us in front of Osaka Castle, all lit up at night.

We were starving and looking for a place to eat, walking down these super sketch streets. We finally ended up trying this little place on the second floor of a building, and tried out some legit Japanese cuisine.... corn dogs!

And yes, of course, we just had to do some karaoke!!!!

We got up early Monday morning, and went straight over to Nara. Luckily, we found a Mr. Donut right outside the Nara Station. Spencer tried some green donut things, and said they tasted like grass. I got me a melon soda, and it was delicious (and also a fabulous color)!!!

This is Spencer trying to "get in the map." Apparently, it is some obscure Friends reference, but at the time, he just looked like a complete idiot. So, of course, i got a picture. =)

And, finally, bring on the reindeer of Nara Park!!! These things were like dogs!!! They followed you around and loooooooved to be pet. If you had deer cookies in your hand (they sold them at the park), you would be molested by deer. I do have quite a few pics of the deer and other things at Nara Park (like a giant Buddha and devil-looking statues) but unfortunately my camera ran out of battery after these two pics, so all my other pics are on my phone.

But anyway, after Nara, we headed back. We just barely caught our 1:40 train (Sports camp ran in order to catch it) and made it back on base by six, just in time for our 7:00 and 9:00 meetings for camp. Fun fun, i know. But it was an awesome weekend, and I am soooooo glad we went... even if bank account suffered a bit!

Today, Saturday, we went to Shibuya and Harajuku in Tokyo, and tomorrow we are going to Tokyo Disney. So I best go get some sleep!!!