Nikko- a last minute adventure

I've always wanted to visit Nikko from the first moment I heard of it...beautiful scenery and the most ornate shrine in all of Japan. So when Saturday came around with nothing else to do, we decided to check it out. It took about 3 hours by express train to get there, even though our directions said it would take only 2 hours. And why it was even labeled an "express", I don't know because we stopped at EVERY single station. It made for an incredibly loooong day trip. Thank goodness it was a scenic route.

Our first stop was to visit the Shinkyo, or Sacred, Bridge (shown above). Back in the day, only the shoguns and imperial messengers were allowed to set foot on it, but now, anyone willing to pay 300 yen can have that privilege.


Next we went to see the temples and shrines that Nikko is famous for, Rinnoji and Toshogu.
























We even got to witness another traditional Japanese wedding, our 3rd one! Someone told us that it's good luck to visit a temple while there's a wedding going on. I certainly hope that's true.

We saw many beautiful sights that day, but here are a couple of my favorites: puppies! It's amazing how many people bring their dogs to temples and shrines, but I have to say that they are very well behaved.

Look at the cute little bows on her ears! I apologize for the goofy look of admiration... I didn't realize Mike was including me in the picture.


This cutie kept jumping up on her daddy until he finally picked her up and held her like a baby. Then she was completely content.

So there you have it...we visited one of Japan's most beautiful places and my favorite part of the day was spotting cute little puppies. I wonder what that says about me?