Kinkaku-ji is a magnificent garden that features one of the most stunning temple buildings I have ever seen: the Golden Pavilion.
This time I tried to pick a better photographer for the family photo and picked the Chinese girl that was using a Canon 5D Mark II – a camera that is in many ways very comparable to the 6D I have. You can argue she did a better job than the German at Nijō castle. The result is only better, however, because it’s an overall better background and because I had smartly narrowed the aperture of the lens. A good idea, because apparently she did not understand that the focus points need to light up on the main subjects of a shot… the narrow aperture saved us from being (too) blurry.
Having locations where you can dump coins seems to be quite common at these temples. I guess it’s for good luck. Some of these are really set up to make this a little game of skill. I guess you need to hit the center stone tray for the one below…
Oskar was of course intrigued by this, given his experience at Tenryū-ji.
Now, not that I want to brag too much, but I had a go, too, and *YAY* pocketed my coin into the center stone bin at first try. So, what now? Will I be lucky for the rest of the day or what?
Anyway. And on we went…
The gardens around the Pavilion are truly lovely and we enjoyed strolling around this beautiful…
Oh – wait a moment. My phone just pinged me. Give me a second…
WHAT THE…?!
How awesome is this! The watch is shipping! Yay!
Woohoo! Can’t be long anymore for mine, too! Let me do a little dance…
…
You know what: maybe that coin throwing is good for something after all… !
Now, where was I?
Right: the gardens around the Pavilion are truly lovely and we enjoyed strolling around this beautiful setting. Truly breath taking.
As we got closer to the exit we passed by more little buildings and places of worship.
Lamia bought and lit a candle for the family.
Shortly after this, we arrived at the exit of the temple and were greeted by…
… of course: a long stair. Well, so Papa had to do some hauling once more.
At the bottom of the stairs a bunch of Japanese teenagers wanted to take a photo of us. Hm, I still cannot get my mind around the fact that people consider us exotic enough to want to have our photos.
I guess it’s just because Oskar’s so cute…
