After a long day of meetings we slipped off to visit Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion. Unlike the Silver Temple we visited previously Kinkaku-ji was literally sheathed in gold. It is, perhaps, one of the most iconic places in Kyoto and one that I’d seen numerous great photos of in the past and was really looking forward to visiting.

My favorite shot of the pavilion itself is probably this one. I think the iris in the foreground adds a nice touch. If I were a little more daring I would probably clone out some of the junk floating on the pond surface.

We had a brief stop at the tea house (with the red benches and umbrella) for some green tea and a little red bean paste treat before heading back to the hotel to prepare for the next day’s work. On the way back we stopped off at Nijojo again, since a few of the folks with us hadn’t visited it during our previous trip. See if you can spot the summer/winter comparison shots.