Kyoto (con't)

After touring the Imperial Palace we headed over to the Gion district in Kyoto. We walked around the Yasaka Shrine which was decorated and ready for the Higashiyama Hana Touro later that night. Higashiyama is an area of Kyoto and during our stay they were having a festival at night with streets lit up with lanterns and various events happening in different locations.


We took a few pictures of the Yasaka Shrine and then headed down a street and found a Starbucks. We each grabbed a drink and then spent about 2 hours sitting at a table outside "people watching". It was pretty interesting to realize that we were sitting at a table on a small patio outside a Starbucks in Kyoto Japan watching the world go by.


Yasaka Shrine









Plum blossoms




Realizing that two hours had passed, we headed further down the street and around a corner and found ourselves on a narrow street lined with older buildings. This was definitely the Gion area because women passed us that we thought were Maiko (apprentice Geisha).














We headed back to the hotel to rest and get something to eat before the evening's events. At about 8:00 pm we returned to the area and got some pretty good night pictures of the lanterns lighting up the small back streets. We didn't catch any of the festivities, but I managed to get a small video of a procession that passed us on one of the small streets.


















Video of the procession that passed us. Unfortunately my camera chose to not record any sound. At the end of the procession is a woman wearing a white cloak and a white mask riding in a rickshaw. I'd like to find out what she "represents".