Kamakura KRAZINESS

Fresh in the morning it is much easier to enjoy each shrine and each individual characteristic held within their walls. So the whole reason that I came to this country can be summed up in the first place we visited today.

Kotokuin: This temple houses the Amida Daibutsu (literally meaning large Buddha), I can't tell you how long I have wanted to see this. Well, actually I can, it was like 8yrs ago when we went to Hawaii and there was a Buddhist Temple there and it had one of the series of Amida Buddhas, it was the smallest but it was beautiful. Ever since I have wanted to see them all and this was insanely wonderful!!!!! I even was able to enter the Buddha, it was soooo cool. Then after I had taken all my pictures and was satisfied with the pictures of me in front...pause for negative internal thought (MOM will understand)....I then went hog wild at the souvenir stand, seriously Grace later said that once she hear me say OMG (trasnlation: Oh My God) she new all hope was lost and I was gone for good. Right away I was picking things up as I passed them. I just couldn't leave much behind it was way too awesome! I told Grace that if we did only one temple that day it was this one and everything else was subject to change.

The Best of the Best!!!!


LOOK MOM & DAD, LOOK!!!



GRACIE TOO!


AWESOMENESS


...continues


Sorry Lisa not as cool as you -


KIM - something shiny!


Wanted to try takoyaki - but I don't know what kind this was and as you can see by the face these were bound for the not finishing, because the trash wants to eat them more than I do.


Well good thing that everything was subject to change because basically the order in which I had originally set the temples up in was not how it went down. Haha, first things first after Kotokuin (LISA)...wait for it, wait for it - our first stop at STARBUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was like heaven in a cup. Though we had seen several already it wasn't until today that the desire was met.

Happiness written all over it!


It was after this glorious experience that we ended up creating a new order to which we would visit each temple, basically we walked from one end of Kamakura to the other... I think the only thing that was stand out quality, because the Amida Buddha shadowed everything, was the bamboo forest at Hokokuji.





I know that pictures should make things look pretty, I just don't remember exactly what I saw at each of these places and which one was which right now...bad Erin, bad Erin.

Sugimotodera


Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu Shrine




Meigetsuin








What I do remember is right there at the end we were walking to the station and there was this lady with a little studio full of different cats she done in different mediums and the point is she let me pet her cat that was zonked out on top of a copier she had there. Sooo, cute, it totally just kept on sleeping, she even told me its name (which was Orange - of course she told it in Japanese first).

......itai..itai...itai. For anyone who doesn't know what that means it mean ouch/hurt. That was what the blister on my foot said when it decided to kill me later in the afternoon. I never really get them and this is horrid. I am sorry to talk about gross stuff, but it was like shooting pain on my poor little toe, it wasn't even on a big toe that would be able hold its own, the blister had to attack poor defenseless digit number 4.

Back to hostel haven. Grab our bags and head to our room. We have to share a bed but at least the room is all ours for a couple nights anyway. Then it is change rooms again time. Wow this took me FOREVER. Grace went to bed an hour ago maybe even more and I am gonna go get some food, surprisingly we didn't really eat a lot despite all the walking, don't worry we kept hydrated, oh yeah, we ate half a sandwich each and a apple so parents don't freak.