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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1100 — map & image data — nearby photos
More Of Those Weird Greenish Cherry Blossoms
御衣黄桜 (gyoikou sakura), similar to those seen here

First there was the walk to lunch (“On The Way To Lunch: Eastern-Kyoto Stroll”), then lunch (“Delicious Yuba Lunch at Junsei”), and now the walk home...

We came across an ultra-fluffy yaezakura cherry that comes out late (a variety seen five years ago on my blog in “10 Gallons of Blossoms on a 5-Gallon Branch”). It seemed all the more fluffy set off by the new-growth green of the trees around it...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 720 — map & image data — nearby photos
A Bit Overwhelming
I like this variety better from a distance

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2200 — map & image data — nearby photos
( the blossoms in the picture were much closer than Paul, who was aiming at something else )

It was a pleasant day in a pleasant area...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 560 — map & image data — nearby photos
Random Street Scene
( photographically uninteresting, but hopefully conveys a sense of relaxed “pleasant” )

One property we came by had a bunch of trees that seemed to glow in an unearthly way that stopped everyone in their tracks... it was just amazing, but these photos capture none of it )-:

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 900 — map & image data — nearby photos
Unearthly Phosphorescent
the new-growth leaves leave jaws dropped

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos

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I don't know whether this glowing effect was hindered or helped by the weird lighting we had all day, due to a particularly thick treatment of kosa haze, a fine yellow dust that blows in from China.

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Green Reflection

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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
“I Heard You Like Doors”
well textured by the weather
( I would have liked to step a few paces further back for this shot )

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As we were approaching Maruyama Park, I thought to take a small street that I'd not really noticed before, and I was shocked to find a whole section of town I'd not known about. Here's the entrance to a temple I'd not known about, chorakuji, which judging by the name (“long fun temple”) may end up becoming my favorite temple.

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Choraku-ji Temple
Kyoto, Japan

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We were in a rush so didn't stop in, but I plan to remedy that soon.

This was near the temple seen in “Some Temple or Other” on the earlier on-the-way-to-lunch post, a temple that also remains unexplored. I was stunned to find these places and some of the others seen later in this post because I used to live just a third of a mile away, but I never knew about it. Part of the reason might be that it's all behind Maruyama Park, a popular park that I have a strong dislike for because it's the poster child for the ugly side of cherry-blossom viewing. So, I have tended to avoid the area and proactively ignore anything I felt connected with it, but it seems I've thrown out some impressive babies with the ugly-crowd bath water.

Continuing on this “secret” (from me) road, we passed a number of inns, including one whose front “lawn” was certainly made more impressive by the kosa-induced lighting:

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Front Lawn
of sorts

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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 5000 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Brilliantly Glowing Red
entrance to something or other

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 720 — map & image data — nearby photos
Suddenly Monochromatic
rear view of the Chion'in Temple

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nice Parking Spot

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 450 — map & image data — nearby photos
Somewhat Foreboding

Descending back into the park to head home, I couldn't help but snap some low-hanging (in the literal sense) blossoms...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/5.6, ISO 3600 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Dainty

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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 cropped — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 560 — map & image data — nearby photos
Stroll
watching the geese and ducks

I was running quite late so had to high-tail it home, but the afternoon was an enjoyable walk followed by an enjoyable lunch followed by an enjoyable walk that only left me more hungry, so to speak, for more.