November is drawing to a close and I am sitting at home all day studying. The JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) will be next week and I don't feel ready. The weather has really been great recently and so I really wanted to go and do something other than studying for a change.
So on Friday I met my German friend to go see a temple and afterwards go shopping and have dinner together. I only bought DVDs, in Japanese, so I could watch them and learn something while doing so.
The temple we went to is called Tofukuji (東福寺) and is a very famous temple in Kyoto, especially because of its Japanese Maple trees that turn so beautifully red in autumn. It was founded around 750 years ago as a buddhist zen temple (as so many others in Kyoto). Really beautiful is the view from but also of the Tsutenkyo (Bridge). There where still a lot of tourists, even though the season is almost over, and a lot of the trees didn't have all their leaves anymore. But if I imagine how full it must have been one week ago I am really happy that I went on Friday.
Our shopping we did at Kyoto Station, there are a lot of shops below ground. The christmas tree in the big entrance hall is also really beautiful, and in the background you can see the stairs with their light show (it changes all the time with a lot of christmas related pictures).
Lastly I would like to show you what a really beautiful Japanese tea house is like. You might be thinking tea ceremony now, but that is not what I am talking about. It's more like a café where you go, sit down, drink some tea and eat some sweets and just enjoy the view of the garden. I went with a Japanese friend, who really loves visiting nice tea houses in Kyoto and two American friends of hers.
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