Berry's SEAJ trip Day 54: Mountain temple (7/29/15)

Woke up with the kids in day care already so we got ready and made our way to Mt. Hiei and its temples. Get a bus from town which has some nice views of the lake on the other side of the mountain on the way up. Get to the top and walk down a nice little trail to the temples (should have gotten off at that stop but we guessed wrong so adjusted our plans).

As we have arrived at the top, Berry wanted to take in the view for a little bit before we go to the temples.

At the top of the mountain, found our sanctuary.

Panoramic view from atop the mountain. Then we go to find the temples we came to see.

Came across this statue on the way to find the temples. 

We finally made it to the temple grounds!

Takao letting the dragon wash his hands clean. What a nice dragon.

Berry made a dragon friend. And this guy breathes water instead of fire. Much nicer if you ask me.

Berry is liking these gradual stair cases among the temples. 

Berry wants to go up those steps to see that house at the top of the hill. I wonder what that giant pillar says.

Well Berry, you want to go up these steps directly up the hill? Lets do it!

View down the steps from where we came. 

Now THOSE are some steep steps. Takao is considering trying to scale them.

Taking the gondola down back towards town. Berry loves these rides.

At the base of the mountain, waiting for the bus, and get to look back at where we came. 

Check out the temples (one had incense things that are black blocks before you light them, and as they burn they display a message. Thought these were pretty cool). Grab a meal nearby before making our way back to the top to take the cable car and funicular down to the bottom to catch a bus back to town. From this we found out the bus was the cheaper way up and had better views. After we get back to town, we go to Takao's lab and try to explore the imperial palace but it is closed for the day so we walk back to his house along the river, which is a great walk and a pretty river with people hanging out.

Sky doesnt look good but it is nice to get away from the cars and have some peace and quiet from the traffic.

Map of the palace grounds. Berry sure likes his maps.

A look at the palace through the trees. Aint nobody getting in there.

Berry with a long way to go to get to the palace. Not worth the walk since it is closed.

Panorama of the grounds of the palace. Nothing but trees and open space all around. I wonder if that is different when the palace is open.

As we explore the palace grounds, we run into a guy feeding the fish in the pond.

Lake and house on the grounds of the imperial palace. 

Amazing that this view is in the middle of the city. 

Berry on the walk along the river as we head back home. Nice walk to be on with good company.

People playing in the river in the middle of a city. Dont you wish we were able to do this in America without worrying about pollution/river filth?

Central river with a series of cascades as it flows downhill. 

After we get back, Takao gets the kids and once he returns, we sit down for one of the better meals of the trip, Sukiyaki. Sukiyaki is a roast beef type dish where the food is cooked on the table in a type of hot plate pan with a spiced broth full of vegetables and thin slices of meat. Once your food is cooked, you dip it into a  raw egg and eat it. Was absolutely delicious and they put shitake mushrooms in there which competed with the carrots for my favorite part of the dish. I could have eaten both all day and been content. Having this makes me want to try and put shitake mushrooms in with our pot roast here to see how that turns out. That night we hung out around the house with the kids, taking it easy as I did some searching into the week traveling around on my own.

One of the new beers I tried with dinner.