Winter

Ask most Kyotoites and they will agree; winter just isn't what it used to be. It seems that there is good reason that the international treaty on Global Warming is named the Kyoto Protocol. In a city that was once no stranger to snowfall, this year brought only one snowstorm that actually left anything on the ground. February - usually the coldest month of the year - brought only rain.

So it was that on the only real snow day of the year, Laura and I grabbed our cameras and bolted out of the door to catch sight of the ways in which the ancient city would be transformed by a fresh blanket of white, fluffy snow.

First stop was my favourite complex of temples in the city: Nanzen-ji. A Zen temple in the city's East side, Nanzen-ji is made up of a vast number of sub-temples and study halls, giving a beautiful variety of scenery in any season.

Situated at the foot of the Higashiyama Mountains, Nanzen-ji's gardens make ample use of the 'borrowed scenery' technique, using landmarks outside of the immediate garden to enhance the arrangement. It also has the 'Sanmon Gate', a high structure which you can climb to get this dramatic view of the surrounding temple buildings and the temple below.

Next stop was Eikan-do, a neighbouring temple in the Keage area with a vast strolling garden. As it happened, the monks of this temple were serving out steaming bowls of hearty, vegetarian soup to any visitors to the temple that day. We sat in the temple, warming ourselves with the soup as the noon-day sun began to emerge, beginning its work on the snow from the morning.

All seemed to be right with the world as the trees sparkled and the snow began to melt...the soup was pretty good, too!

From Eikan-do we strolled up the Path of Philosophy until we reached Ginkaku-ji, the (not-so) Silver Pavilion. Here we were in for a real treat, with the expansive, mutli-level gardens of the temple still being nestled in under a blanket of snow.

Ginkaku-ji is famed for its winter view, with the graceful roof of the Pavilion capped in snow. As we left Ginkaku-ji, the sun came out and began its work in earnest, erasing the last of the snow that we had been treated to. Though in my mind winter in Kyoto only lasted for half a day, it was still a beautiful, breathtaking 'season' that I am glad to have seen.