One is Silver, and the Other Gold
After waking up late, yet again, I decided to head out to the Silver Pavilion (銀閣寺). As it turned out, quite a few other people wanted to go there as well! So I decided to meet them after an early lunch with Lauren and Tyler around Toji. After taking a crowded bus up to the silver pavilion area, I sat down in an empty cafe called "the Pink Bunny". It was decorated in pink and white chairs, tablecloths, wallpaper, and lots and lots of bunnies. Toys, stuffed animals, ceramics, plates, glass, you name it, it was a bunny. The owner even had a English sort of garden outside surrounded in bunny statuary and butterflies! It was my favorite place in the world for the 15 minutes I was there.
Afterwards everyone met up and we walked around the Pavilion which was extremely crowded. It was very beautiful and I will have to go back at a time it's not packed! They had lots of gardens, rock gardens, and a hilltop climb with beautiful trees. T
he changing of the autumn leaves made for a spectacular view as well! After the pavilion, everyone got interesting ice cream at a nearby stand. Blueberry, sweet potato, sesame, chestnut, matcha (green tea powder) etc. I had chocolate, myself.
After ice cream, I suggested that we go on the Philosopher's walk, which is a pathway about 1 mile long (1.5 km) that goes past quite a few temples and shrines. It's a lovely walk surrounded by a small river full of fish and flowers and trees on either side. We passed quite a few interesting shrines and temples as well, and stopped at the last one (Nanzen-ji 南禅寺) which is an expansive temple. We climbed up one of the towers and got a wonderful view of the area (many photos were snapped). We then trekked further towards the Museum of Modern Art (where sadly, I did not get a chance to go to). However we did see a dance contest between groups in wildly colored costumes doing obondori, which is traditional Japanese dance. Only it was mixed with some very lively modern music and modern dancing. The dancers were even smiling. It was one of the highlights of the day! We then walked endlessly in search of onigiri and snacks, which we had in spades.
Afterwards we wandered back to Sanjo where we met up with more JETs at a tavern type place and all had sandwiches and wine! It was a lot of people so it was a bit difficult to make decisions, but it was nice seeing everyone again and my sandwich was amazing. I also got prety drunk on a half bottle of wine that I was sharing with Leigh, which tasted somewhat like Jell-O. After that we went back to the river! I was already on my way to drunk at that point and decided that I was grumpy and then drank a LOT more. I think 3 or 4 beers more, which left me at being... the drunkest I have ever been in my life! I was stealing phones and writing nonsense texts, went into a very heated conversation about innie/outtie nipples with Blakeney and Fiona, wandered around giving high fives,, and had frequent conversations in line for the bathroom. One of which I remember was about a magazine entitled "glay" which I thought was hilarious at the time. And ... even now.Then eventually Liz, Leigh and Ger decided to take me home with them as Lauren and Tyler had already left and they figured I wouldn't be able to take a cab home alone (how right they were!) So I passed out in Liz's room almost immediately.
Although due to all the sight seeing everyone had been doing, it was an early night.
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