In the north west of Kyoto you find the area of Arashiyama. We went there to visit two sightseeing highlights, one is the Tenryu-ji temple, which is world cultural heritage, the second the impressive bamboo grove which surrounds the temple.
Markets are always fascinating places, especially far from home. There is an amazing roofed market in Kyoto, which is not completely overrun with tourists and where you can see normal people and sample the excellent food.
The second day in Kyoto I woke up a bit earlier and went for a little morning walk. Close to the hotel was a nice neighbourhood temple, where some elderly people where doing gymnastics, lead by a monk and the radio programme.
Kyoto is the traditional Japan. While in Tokyo you feel like in a Megalopolis out of a bladerunner movie, Kyoto is somewhat the opposite: lots of temples, traditional houses, more people in Kimonos than in business attire.
The last day in Sweden. Heading back to Luleå Station to catch the train back to Stockholm, where our plane back was waiting. On the way, we stopped in Gammelstad, the old church village of Luleå.
On the last full day in the north, we did a little sightseeing tour: the church in Piteå, Öjebyn (the old town of Piteå) and some driving around the countryside around Svensbyfjärden.
We went to sweden for a reason: the 80th birthday of Donald Knuth, the inventor of TeX and overall genius in computer programming.
