Osaka/Kyoto Day 2 Morning

This morning started early, we had to leave the hotel at 7am. We hopped on the subway and headed to a large station near by. We were meeting a tour at Hotel Grandvia at 7:30. Mike was up early so he got us all McDonald's for breakfast. We met our tour at the hotel and proceeded to the JR train station. We knew it was going to be interesting, because not everyone spoke the same language, people showed up late, and some tried to get on the wrong train. Our tour Guide was going to attempt to heard ferrel cats for 6hrs. This was going to be fun.
Once we all go on the right train, we headed to Kyoto station. There we would meet up with a bus and start our sightseeing tour.
We joined the bus tour, and headed out to the Nijo Shogun castle. It was the home of the political leader. It was built info 1603. It was quite impressive to know they built this large home without nails. One of the interesting facts about the castle, is surrounding all the rooms the floor was built to be squeaky. They call it the nightingale floor. It prevented people from sneaking up on anyone in the rooms when the sliding doors were closed. So we were a very noisy group walking through the castle.
Next we headed to the Golden Pavilion. It was built by the Shogun whose house we had just visited. I was really excited about visiting this, I had seen beautiful pictures. Just as we got off bus, it began to rain very hard. I was cold, it was raining, it was crowded and everyone had umbrellas.
It was still beautiful to see, I just wished for better weather.
Next we headed to the Imperial Palace. We were very lucky because normally the palace is closed on Saturday and Sunday. But for one week in Spring the Imperial Palace is open all week long. So we were prepared for it to be very crowded. The Japanese are on Spring Holiday, a three week vacation.
The Imperial Palace was very grand, but much more subdued than Chinese palaces. We were lucky yet another time because there were ministers from the Emperor's place performing a ceremony. It was a beautiful grounds with a gorgeous garden. We also got to see the painting inside the emperors living quarters. Usually they are close to preserve the coloring, but because the sun was not out and it was cloudy, they had the screens open. My favorite part was the beautiful Cherry Tree out by the parking lot. We got a couple of Christmas card pictures!
Now lunch time!