Pictures!!

I spent the day today walking around Gosho, the imperial palace in Kyoto--or more specifically, the grounds of the imperial palace.  The actual imperial residence (which hasn't been occupied since, according to Wikipedia, 1868) is available for tours, but as a foreigner you need to give your passport and advance notice to enter, and I did not do either of those, so I did not enter.  I will sometime, though--this is literally across the street from school, so it's really easy to get there. 

The gardens outside the imperial residence are very very pretty.  It's amazing that despite being sandwiched between lots of city streets, the sound of traffic kind of fades away inside--I heard cicadas and crows, not engines.  Also lots of people with dogs, small children, and/or elderly relatives were walking around.  It was very relaxed and happy-feeling. 

I can't figure out how to make it rotate.

Jinja!

The dark blobs in the water are fish.

Chashitsu!  (Tea room, really a house but w/e)

Still can't rotate.  Cat!

Crane!

Front of chashitsu!

View from chashitsu!

Bridge by chashitsu!

Garden outside chashitsu!

Inside chashitsu!

As you can probably tell from the pics, the chashitsu and the little pond and shrine by it were my favorite part of the gardens.  I could happily spend a couple hours sitting in that area.  (As per the way the world works, it's in the corner farthest from school, of course.  XD)