MERRY CHRISTMAS!! Instead of opening presents, we left for Kyoto palace in the morning. We joined an one hour Engish tour which we booked from US. You cannot just go and join the tour. They need your name and info before hand to check your back ground and decide if you are good enough to come inside the palace....well, back ground check part is a lie but you need to book in advance and show your picture ID. Security guys in the trench coat were always with us and making sure nobody do anything bad to the palace. We cannot enter the buildings but watched it from outside.

This whole place was emperor's bed rooom.

Steven:"Honey, his bed room is a little bigger than ours!!"

Nice interior...Crane room.

"We like the garden, too. We will take it!!." ...Oh, it was not an open house tour...

After that, we went to Nijo jo
and Byodo-in by train.

Taking a break after the long walk...

We had Italian infused yakitori for Christmas dinner at Koke-Kokko.

Christmas Tree in Kyoto Station was pretty...