Kyoto is known as "the city of a thousand temples," but actually it has more — an astonishing 1,600 Buddhist temples, plus 400 Shintō shrines, a trio of palaces, and dozens of gardens and museums! Kyoto boasts more World Heritage Sites per square inch than any other city.

Thus, the question for us was how do we narrow down the "must sees" of the city. This is where our incredibly touristy, "Kyoto 1 Day Tour" through Sunrise Tours came into play.  Unlike every other place we had visited so far in the world, this was the one and only English speaking  guided tour that was offered.  Lets just say this was one of those tours we really try to avoid - a bus packed to the gills with plaid-dressed seniors, families with loud children, and not much in between.  It isn't quite the tour demographic we try to aim for, but there was no choice.

As it turns out, being led by our flag-yielding guide through what were "the" sites to see in Kyoto made the day easy and fun.  We learned a lot of facts about each and every one of the 6 sites we visited that day.  I'd say don't mess with us when it comes to Trivial Pursuit: Japanese Shrines Edition, but let's face it: most of it has all blended together or we've already forgotten it entirely.

The highlights by far were the breathtaking Japanese gardens that most of the sites contain.  They are all beautifully laid out, and easy to walk through.  We learned about the main elements that make a Japanese gardern--water, garden plants, stones, waterfalls, trees, and bridges. 

The Heian Shrine's garden was magnificent, with a stone path through the pond that was fun to "prance" along.  The Golden Pavillion was set amongst a vast garden, the pond reflecting the beautiful image of the 200 lb's of gold that covered the temple.  Lastly, the Kiyomizu Temple nestled in the mountainside of Kyoto had a breathtaking view of the city of Kyoto.  Making the climb up the quaint old lane lined with pottery shops to reach that temple was also fun, especially b/c most of the shops offered food samples, which we delighted in.

Kyoto's beautiful images of cherry blossoms in bloom, Japanese gardens, temples, shrines and palaces will always be a strong image in both our minds.