Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Kyoto and Himeji Castle Pictures.

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So yes. The day before yesterday is was drizzling or raining most of the day when we were looking at temples. We got very wet toward the end of the day.

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Between the rain and the New Years holiday, this gave Sean and I some of the temples we went to pretty much to ourselves. It was a rare experience because normally the temples are packed. This was the type of quiet, conteplative enviroment the temples we designed for but are rarely expereienced because of their popularity.

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Yesterday we went to Japanese architectural gem Himeji Castle. Nearly unchanged for 400 years but in amazingly good condition. Again, we had the place mostly to ourselves execpt the main tower. With no crowds it felt like time had stopped allowing one to get very close to history. It was kind of overcast for part of the trip (but cleared up later) hence the black and white images.

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The main tower is amazing so we just had to climb up to the very top. Again, lots of history. The tower was built with one thing in mind: defense. Well worth the effort to see the grounds and tower.

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Snapped this shot on the way back by train to Kyoto of the afternoon sun finally breaking through. It was a very nice ride through Kansai. I stared out the window most of the way.

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