It’s day five (I think, the days are blurring) and it’s a trip on the train to Arishiyama. This one of the places we visited on our last trip and remarked “I bet this will look much nicer in Autumn”. And it did:
Although there were many more people also enjoying the view this time:
I took a walk around the gardens:
The Autumn colours in Japan start in the north and head south over a couple of months. Each location only sports Autumn colours for a 2-3 weeks and the trick is to catch the right time. This year, my visit started a little early, but the colours seemed to be really coming to life at this point in my trip and I got a bit carried away just snapping shots of trees. In my defense, the colours are amazing (especially if you live in Thailand where most trees refuse to be any colour other than green), and the branches contribute to the pattern. In the back of my mind I had a plan that I would gather a collection of these shots, process them in an arty-farty way (e.g. like this) And combine them into a poster to hang on the wall. This will never happen; but the least I can do is stick some of them on here (and be warned, there are more to come):
The exit took me to the bamboo grove which had failed to impress on our last visit. However, a sunny day and some wind rustling the bamboo made all the difference and I was prepared to be entranced:
On our last visit, the bamboo grove had marked the end of our visit; but this time I continued on past the end of the bamboo path and entered the garden of the Japanese actor Oh-kohchi Denjiro, who died in 1962; but his villa and gardens have been maintained:
A room with a view. Central heating needed attention though
My final stop of the day was Nison-in temple:
You may have noticed that many of my shots show the tops of buildings and structures, rather than the complete unit. Some form of artistic style perhaps? Nope, some form of crowd control:
I did stand at that spot for a full ten minutes waiting for a clear shot; but I would have been more likely to have captured a snap of a passing snow leopard.
There were plenty more potential targets in the area, but my legs had had enough and my stomach needed a refill, so I headed homewards. Slept very well.
Comments 🔗
2013-12-05| Kevin Moore saysLike all these images but really like the ones of just the leaves.