The big advantage of hitting popular sightseeing spots in mid-January is that the crowds are relatively light. The big disadvantage is that it is freezing. We spent two days in Kyoto and went to Nara yesterday. There were many Shrines and Temples. Dating, as they frequently do, from the 8th century, none of these places have heating. We got very cold.

In Kyoto, we went to the Heian Shrine and then walked around the east side of the city. We traced part of the Philosophers’ Walk path, but were driven away by a heavy wet snowstorm… Freezer Tourism at its best! On Wednesday, we circled around the west and visited two large Buddhist Temples. Then we went to the Nijo-Jo Castle. From the castle we walked over to the Imperial Palace grounds, but there were no more tours that day so we signed up for and English language tour the next morning. Then we visited the Shoren-in Temple and its wonderful garden, and walked around the Gion district until we got very hungry.

On Thursday, we took the Imperial Palace tour. A decent tour, for what it was: you don’t get to go inside any of the buildings but they do have some good pointers about the architecture and building styles. Did I mention it was cold? There was also a flurry of light snow, but much less than the day before. We hear all these palatial quarters were built without any heating at all: they were more concerned with keeping cool in the summer than keeping warm in winter, since they had to sit around wearing many layers of ceremonial garments. We, though, were not wearing ceremonial garments. We were chilled to the bone but that’s what you get when you do Freezer Tourism!

Nara, 25km south of Kyoto, is interesting because it has been spared much of the turmoil and upheaval that befell Kyoto. A number of significant buildings have been preserved from its days as the first capital of Japan. It has the largest wooden building in the world, the Daibutsu-den, housing a 24 meter high Buddha statue. We walked around the Nara-koen and were accosted by some of the 1,200 sacred deer that hang around the park jonesing for handouts. One of them took a nibble on Laura’s maplet.

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