Turn your attention outwards, on the other hand, across the immaculately kept gardens of carefully raked gravel and you can snap away to your heart's content, preserving a recollection of some quite sublime landscaping.
That, once we'd made our way back to the shoe-wearing zone, was about enough temple action for the day, though Madam had a couple of landmarks to look at, and some gift shopping that had to be slotted in.
For my part, a mild headache made a drink of water desirable, and after a traipse through the back blocks to some water pipes that had piqued someone's interest I managed to find a vending machine.
Managed to find might seem to be overdoing things a bit since the things are everywhere, but the particular section of back blocks and main urban thoroughfare we traversed once I'd established a need for water was almost totally bereft of them.
It wasn't exactly rolling in public transport options either, or at least none that would take us where Madam wanted to go, so we hoofed it.
We'll probably be back in the area at some point since our path took us past some significant temples (Shoren-in and Chion-in) and through the grounds of Yasaka shrine, all of which would have warranted further investigation if we weren't effectively templed out. We weren't that far from Kodaji, Entoku-in, Kenninji and Rokuhara-mitsuji if those options aren't enough next time around.
All of which underlines the point that Kyoto has enough temples, significant sites and other attractions to keep the visitor very busy for a very long time, so you don't expect to do the lot in one or two visits.
Take a year, ensconce yourself in the city, familiarise yourself with the topography, seasonal variations and transport infrastructure and head out every day, weather permitting, and you'll probably still have things on the bucket list twelve months later.
We ended up on the verges of Gion, the geisha district, but Madam's focus was on gift shopping, which left Hughesy standing on the footpath watching the passing parade.
There was plenty to watch, and you might have hypothesised some special occasion in the offing given the number of kimono-clad passers-by, but a check with our resident authority on these matters suggests it was just business as usual in the temple precinct and surrounds.