Day 6 and 7 (last day): Golden Pavilion, Higashiyama, Nishiki Market, Nijo Castle
Day 6 it was raining, but we found ourselves, along with every other tourist at the Golden Pavilion first thing in the morning. The Golden Pavilion, which is the Kinkaku-ji temple, is a very beautiful temple covered in gold leaf, that sits next to a pond on a hillside. The visit involves a short walk through a nice garden. Unlike some of the other temples we visited, this one can be seen in a fairly short amount of time, but is still worth the visit. After Kinkaku-ji, we took a cab across town to do the Lonely Planet Southern Higashiyama walking tour. It's about a four hour tour that takes you through a few temples and a really beautiful part of Kyoto. It was recommended by Akash and Nicole and we really enjoyed it. We started at the Kiyomizu-dera temple, which is a pretty temple nestled at the top of a hill with a view of the city, and a large, three story pagoda. To get to the temple you walk up an incredibly crowded, touristy street full of shopping selling mochi ...
