I was very excited for this day because I had heard that the Imperial Palace gardens were pretty. The giant stones that made up the walls were incredible and the koi pond was mesmerizing. I loved the waterfall and all of the trails that surrounded the flower beds nextto the pond. One of the things I was shocked by was the number of times each shrine has burned down. I think the most we had heard was eight times, I don’t remember how many times the Imperial Palace burned but it wasn’t nearly that many times.

After a brief lunch of ricotta and banana pancakes, we all met at the final shrine of the entire trip. It reminded me significantly of the backyard of the house I grew up in with the thick woods aesthetic and the river running through it. Something I was surprised by was the giant row of barrels that once held wine – although I cannot remember the story behind it. While this shrine was not as staggering as the shrine on the cliff or the one with over one thousand gates or statues, I thoroughly enjoyed the simplicity of this one.