Temples and Shrines in Kyoto

We went to Japan for about a week and just came back to NYC! this time we visited old capital Kyoto, south western part of Japan. This is the place that you would go to on a school trip at least once if you are Japanese. Unlike your imagination, Kyoto is not all about old town, the city part is as developed as Tokyo and big malls and stations everywhere. This time, since the earth quake happened there were almost no foreigners. Usualy it is packed with tourist! 

I booked a traditional Japanese style hotel "Ryokan"and enjoyed good Japanese food and hospitality. Experienced temporal living in the middle of Kyoto city "Gion" where geisha used to walk around (and I believe they still are here, we just don't see them often) It was almost like a Disneyland to me how buildings are old and beautiful, makes me curious why we don't have more cities like this.

There are many shrines and temples in the city and it is impossible to visit everywhere withing short period of time. We only had 3 days, so we walked around where we were staying. Some temples did night time light up and it was really beautiful. Cherry blossom season was over but the lime green trees were refreshing and gave us a feel of fresh beginning of summer.