Nikko National Park Tour

So my day started early again, and first thing I took a photo of was this. Japan hasn't surprised me too much, but when I saw that even transport companies had cute little mascots for themselves I had to take a second look.

And we're off on the bus ride. From Hamamatsucho Station to the Nikko National park was about 2 and a half hours with a 15 minute stop a 1 hour for a toilet break. The lady in the yellow jacket is our tour guide Yuki. Out of all the tour guides I had she was the best. 

Leaving Tokyo.

Better shot of Tokyo Tower.

Much better shot of the Tokyo Skytree.

And now we get to the national park. 

So we had several temples we could visit while here, but only so much time to do so. This is the Rinnoji Temple. I didn't visit this one, plus it was under renovation.

Some kind of temple thing (it's bad I didn't ask what it was).

And now Yuki is gonna take us on our tour. Oh, I should say that for this tour I met a few new people. First a Canadian living in Barbados named Carrine. Then a couple, Mark and Lyn, from Sydney. The tour was only half full, so we all spread out on the bus, and lucky I did cause I found that the end of the bus had so much more leg room so I stretched out for most of the trip :)

Another long walk to the main temple. So worth it :)

People who got bad fortunes from the shrine tied them on branches 'leaving' behind the bad luck to be taken away.

Stone Torii Gate

Five-story Pagoda

Entrance gate

Stable Houses, with the Three Monkeys carved into it.

Bronze Torii gate and the Yomeimon Gate in the background.

I forget who gifted this Tokugawa Ieyasu (who the shrine is for) but the thing has a glaring mistake if you look at it for close enough. and since I haven't explained it or provided a better picture it is this: the symbol for Tokugawa Ieyasu is upside down.

This is one of the entrances into the main shrine. This isn't for ordinary guests though, and I forget if Yuki mentioned if its used at all. Unfortunately photos are prohibited in the shrine, so I've got nothing to show for it. However inside was very beautiful, and after paying respects and praying I took a closer look around and it was definitely worth the visit. I would recommend a visit to anyone who comes to Japan. 

And now we leave and go to the Nikko Tamozawa Imperial Villa.

The entrance. We could take photos in here :)

I didn't worry to much about the interior, but I got some shots of the beautiful artwork present. This and the gardens are the best bits as far as I'm concerned.

Weeping Cherry Tree.

Representations of the Emperor and Empress.

And now we get out into the gardens.

Air raid shelter entrance.

Back of the villa.

After that we got back in the bus and headed to the Kirifuri Falls, the last part of the tour.

It was quite a walk up some steps to get here. There used to be more to the lookout but it had to be close off a while ago because it was becoming to dangerous, and I would imagine expensive to repair (plus potential damage to the surroundings).

And that was the last part of the tour. After that we got back on the bus and headed back into Tokyo. It was a great tour and I was glad I took it. That was my last tour while in Tokyo as well so the next two days I just did my own thing.