On our second day in Osaka, February 13, 2017, we traveled to Kyoto where we started the day by visiting the Golden Pavilion. The pavilion is a Zen temple in northern Kyoto whose top two floors are completely covered in gold leaf. Our next stop was the Nijo-jo Castle that was built in 1603 as the Kyoto residence of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Edo Period, which was also surrounded by beautiful gardens. Our last stop was at the Heian Shinto Shrine, also surrounded by beautiful gardens. We returned to Osaka crossing the Heian River.
