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For Christmas we fled our little snow sieged city and headed down south, to Kyoto. We actually stayed in Otsu (about 10 minutes from Kyoto by train) and took a pretty good little Japanese class. But since we were down there, we figured it would be a shame not to see the sights. Aimee is standing my a ceremonial washing basin. Before entering a Buddhist temple, one is supposed to wash their hands and rinse their mouth, as an act of purificateion.
		Kyoto is the cultural capital of Japan. Allied forces were instructed specifically not to bomb Kyoto, so as not to destroy a world treasure. There are so many places to see that you could literally spend a couple of weeks just exploring Kyoto. Unfortunately, Kyoto is a huge international city, and distractions from exploring abound. Odd as it may sound. The best Itallian food we've ever eaten was in Kyoto.

Kinkakuji is one of those don't miss spots in Kyoto.The Golden Pavilion earns it's name because two of the three stories are covered in, you guessed it gold. Gold leaf was carefully re-applied to this building after it was burn down by a fanatic in the 40's. It sits in a magnificent tea garden, with a reflecting pond around 3 sides. We were extremely lucky in visiting in on a winter weekday, as there were only 5 other people in the whole park. It's normally standing room only. And it sits right next door to Ryoanji, the world famous zen rock garden (unfortunately it doesn't photograph nearly as well.)

		Of course my favaorite part was Panasonic Square in Osaka. 3-D movies, laser harps, awesome electronic gadgets, and a virtual San Francisco cable card ride, ah just like being home.