“If you abandon the present moment you cannot live the moments of your daily life deeply.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
This past Wednesday was a very beautiful (extremely busy) day that I’m very thankful I was able to experience. I have always been very interested in, and inspired by, religion. I enjoy learning about religions, and understanding why people do certain rituals. So, because of this, my trip to Kamakura to visit 2 Buddhist Temples and 1 Shinto Shrine was extremely serene and interesting!
Our first stop was at The Great Buddha of Kamakura!!!!
There was a group of Monks who graced us with their presence, and it was a photographer’s dream!! I had a super excited, nerdy photographer moment and got all up in their biz. 😀 They were taking selfies and photos at one point… I wedged myself right in there and started snapping away. I felt like I was apart of the National Geographic! (Or at least, that’s what I would’ve told them if they asked me!!!!)
Next we headed to another Buddhist Temple called Hasedera (長谷寺).
It was a loooooong climb up, but it was worth it! The view was breath taking and ice cream followed. This temple/shrine was my favorite out of the three, and the Monks showed up here too! I grabbed some inspiring pictures of them, and enjoyed gawking at how cool they looked. haha.
Last, we headed to a local Shinto Shrine (there are many), and I’ll be honest, I was EXHAUSTED by this point. I hardly remember anything, and I didn’t even grab many photos! After we climbed another set of stairs, we looked around briefly and headed out to shop until we dropped. The End!
Kamakura & All Things Beautiful on PhotoPeach https://photopeach.com/embed/aitw1m
This is my photo peach!
MTSU Japan Study Abroad 
You should definitely see if you can take a picture with a monk (sometimes they allow it) and maybe see if you can spend a day with them to get the insider scope! I wonder if they would let you since it’s technically for cultural research 🙂 Something I wish I’d done in China. Love you and miss you lady!
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