On our 2nd day in Kyoto, we visited the Nijo Castle. This is a huge area with 2 castles and huge expands of gardens. Again, lots of cherry blossom in full blossom in this area. One of the castle is open for public, so we can enter the castle and walk through the display. The castle’s floor constructions is of a special method, and they are called “The Nightingale Floor”, because the floor will squeak when you stepped on it, no matter how light (unless you know how to make yourself weightless 
). Here are some pictures of the Nijo Castle and the surrounding areas.
From Nijo Castle, we went to Gion District, where the famous Geisha resides. The area shows traditional houses and buildings. There is also a theatre in the area, called Gion Kobu Kaburenjo theatre, where we’ve already booked ourselves (yesterday) for a tea ceremony and Geisha performance (called Miyako Odori, or Cherry Blossom dance) . The performance is definitely worth seeing, even though you might not really appreciate art, and of course, to understand the performance, you have to buy the English guide book (costs JPY 800 I think). But this performance is rare, and only happens in April (according to them), and you don’t see a lot of Geisha’s performance unless you know someone who can arrange a private performance for you (and that costs a lot of money!!!). Enjoy some pictures of Gion district, the tea ceremony, and the Geisha’s performance.
After the performance, we went back to the hotel to download the pictures off my camera (it’s nearly full, only 3 shots left!), had lunch close by, then we went to the Philosopher’s Path walk route. This is basically a walk from one temple/shrine to another. It’s quite a long walk, but worth it if you are into temples and shrines. And there are also lots and lots of cherry blossom tree blooming along the path. We are so lucky not to have missed the blooming season (which we’ve missed in Tokyo). Enjoy these pictures we took on each temples/shrines and along the way.
That’s the end of our 2nd day in Kyoto.
