The Pure Water Temple

Today, we went to Kiyomizudera, or "pure water," temple. It was on the side of a small mountain, up a steep village road,  and is the center of one of the oldest Japanese Buddhism sects. They were quite a few tourists there, but regardless, it was a extremely beautiful place, and felt very peaceful.

Although the weather called for rain, we found the day to be quite nice, with blue skies and a surprising burst of snow flurries while we were at the temple. We were still a bit early for the cherry blossoms, but did find a few trees, which had blooms. I can only imagine what this temple would look like in a week or so, when all the trees have flowered.

The spring water at the temple is said to have healing powers, and there were many places where you could use it to wash your hands. Since, I had burned by hand on the incense, I decided to give it a try, and later in the afternoon when I looked at my palm, the white singe mark I had acquired earlier, was gone. Maybe, they are right!

After returning to the hotel for lunch, we decided to head out to a local shopping area. We picked up a few gifts for Qing-Qing and Yuan-Yuan, and a few pieces for ourselves, and then returned for an afternoon rest.

At about five 0'clock, Bill and I went down to the lounge for a drink, while Ethan babysat his younger siblings. Ethan did a great job, and they even ordered room service for dinner. Bill and I enjoyed talking with another expat couple we met, who have been living in France. He had been in the Peace Corp. since the '60's, and they had lived in a number of impoverished countries, while raising their four children. I am now looking forward to reading the book he has written about his work experiences. Before we knew it, it was 8:30pm, and we decided to head back to the room before our luck ran out with the kids' behavior.

Tomorrow, we are going on a tour of Nijo Castle, which was the Kyoto residence of the Tokugawa shoguns, the Imperial Palace, which was the emperor's residence, and Kinkaku-Ji, or Golden Pavillion, which was originally a shogun residence, and then later a Zen temple.