"Just Keep Shooting."

Wind at the Temple, originally uploaded by Nurse Kate.

I suppose that's what I tried to do!

Yesterday was my birthday, so of course the sun was shining (at least, a little bit). We were off to Kyoto in the morning, and after many trains, including the bullet train (and let me tell you, standing 30 feet away from something that's going 200+ miles an hour is breathtaking to say the least), we arrived at Yasaka Shrine.

Above is a photograph I took of one of the inner parts of the shrine, where there were tons of lanterns, with I'm guessing either names or good luck/wellness saying on them. The wind picked up, and I thought it created a interesting balance of movement and still frame. I turned towards the temple in time to see a group of Japanese girls dressed in their kimonos walking towards the giant ropes. From what I could see, you ring the bell, clap twice, and bow your head to pray. It was refreshing to be present at those moments, like the wind was taking away your doubts and fears and leaving you with the energy to carry on.

After another 3 hours of exploring (I wound up in some pretty neat places, I'll have to elaborate later), we had dinner at a wonderful soba/udon restaurant that was told to us my Toko-san's second-mother. :) A couple of us did a sake toast, and I finished a whole container (what are those called?)... it was interesting... tastes just like rice vodka, which that's pretty much was it is anyway!

More later... Osaka later today for a baseball game!