The Silver Pavilion:
The Golden Pavilion:
Which do you like better?
I actually have much better pictures of the Golden Pavilion (which can be seen at Flickr), but this is about as good as the Silver Pavilion shots get (see this set), so to make it a fair comparison, I went with the picture above. I'm also inordinately amused by pictures of other people taking pictures of stuff.
To answer a question raised in the previous poll, this is "non-dorky" because it's about making aesthetic judgements, not science stuff. As any smarmy art history major can tell you, science is for dorks, and dorks are incapable of making real aesthetic judgements...
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I think it is a tough call--judging by the photos here, both seem to fit very well into their particular surroundings.
Silver, for me, no hesitation...but with the proviso that I am perfectly conscious that that is a thoroughly modern aesthetic call. To people from another time, I think the Gold would have a unique appeal that I just can't relate to.
I think that with the reflection in the perfectly still pool on a blue sky day it has to be the gold. It may be over the top, but it is stunning.
Aesthetically, the golden one, but the Buddhist tradition of "materialism is bad except when it comes to our Buddhas and pagodas" does give the "silver" one an edge.
What if you just want to be a dentist?
Gold, but not for the obvioius reasons; I like the pool setting around it.
I think that with the reflection in the perfectly still pool on a blue sky day it has to be the gold. It may be over the top, but it is stunning.
See here.
It might be the photo, but the Silver settles into the forest in a more pleasant (dare I say serene?) way.
...and this was my take on it.
Gold, but by a slim margin. It has an airier feel to it, and the water feature is stunning. But I also like the more subdued tones of the silver.
Ginkakuji (silver) wins. It has a more tasteful and serene atmosphere than Kinkakuji. I've always preferred it.