We started the second leg of our trip in Kyoto, Japan. I have been so excited about this city because of all the ancient temples, shrines, and castles that Kyoto is known for. It used to be the Imperial capital of Japan for thousands of years, so you can only imagine the amount of history there! We stayed 3 nights at our hotel that was perfectly located about 5 blocks north of central Kyoto train station.
The first day, after driving a couple hours from Nagoya to get there, we visited the most famous temple in all of Japan, Kinkaku-ji. Words cannot describe how beautiful it was. It is not that big of a temple, but what it lacks in size it makes up in quality. The entire exterior is gold leafed, making it a vibrant gold yellow that reflects perfectly in the water it rest upon.
Afterwards we decided to check out the famous Nishiki market to grab some food for dinner. It's also known as "Kyoto's Kitchen." Let's face it, half of the fun while on vacation is the food, and boy did the food deliver. From the fruit, to the pastries, to the ramen it was all amazing! I think we will need to go on a diet after eating so well during our 10 day trip.
We finished out our first day in Kyoto by taking a stroll in the Gion district. This is the "old" or "traditional" part of town. Many of the people walked the streets in ka monos, the buildings all had traditional japanese styled roofs and architecture, and yes we did see a modern day geisha I guess you could say. We even walked down Shinbashi dori street which is apparently the most beautiful street in all of Asia (my guess is because it was so clean and so filled with history and culture). The best part to the evening was when we passed a little pastry shop on our way back to the hotel and Kyle stopped and pointed to what looked like the most delicious cream/chocolate filled donut thing. He was so excited about this pastry that he took the biggest bite... Yep, you guessed it, it was not filled with cream or chocolate. It was filled with bean paste!!!!! I just died laughing cause this keeps happening to Kyle whenever he picks out a pastry. Let's just say he was not very adventurous for the rest of our trip with the Japanese sweets, and I did all the choosing of the pastries from that point on.
Our second day in Kyoto we decided to try the popular Japanese mode of transportation and rented bikes. They were so much fun! Connor was in the front bucket seat of my bike while Abby was in the back carrier of Kyle's bike. It was so easy to travel from place to place on our bikes, and the slight breeze we would catch helped with the heat and humidity. That breeze helped to minimize our sweating so hopefully we didn't disgust the Japanese people like I'm sure we have up to this point. Seriously, I can't express enough how hot and humid it gets here!!!!!
We visited so many places I can't even keep track to be honest. Some hi lights were Nijo castle, Japanese zen rock garden ryoan-ji, and the Kimono Forrest.
We got carried away, traveling around Kyoto trying to see as much as possible that we forgot to stop and take a sunscreen break. DUMB! Poor Connor and Kyle got burned. Luckily Abby takes after my skin and only burns in extreme situations, so she and I were fine. The burns led to grumpy Kyle and fussy Connor, which lead to us stopping to eat at some random Japanese resturant just to get out of the sun, which lead to weird bean paste food (again, the bean paste ALWAYS shows up when Kyle picks out the food hahaha), which finally resulted in us heading back to the hotel for the day. It's all fun and games till someone gets burned.
We did decided to make one last stop on our way back though, and I'm glad we did. We stopped to see the monkey Forrest where wild monkeys just roam around and you can get super close to them. The only catch was we had to climb up the mountain 20 minutes to see them. So, you guessed it, we were drenched in sweat once we reached the top. Kyle and I were both laughing and crying as we hiked up this steep mountain side, both with a kid strapped on each of our backs, and breathing in what felt like soup thanks to the nasty humidity. It literally was comical. We were panting, sweating, and stumbling once we reached the top. If anything we are just trying to keep up the stereo type that all Americans are fat and out of shape ;)
The best part was watching the monkeys groom each other, play in the water, and watching all the cute baby monkeys cling to their mommas. Abby was so intrigued and balled when it was time to leave. I was happy she loved it so much since we thought she would like it and decided to stop there just for her. Even though we almost died climbing the hillside we were rewarded with a beautiful view overlooking all of Kyoto. Even though the monkeys were cute and fun I will be honest...we are never climbing that mountain again. Sorry monkeys.
Our last day in Kyoto we went to the famous Sanjusangendo Buddhist Temple. The Temple was completed in 1164 and houses life sized statues of all of the thousand armed kannon, 28 statues of guardian deity, as well as a giant Buddha statue which is now considered a national treasure of Japan. Out of respect and sanctity of the place no pictures were allowed inside, but it truly was a sight to see. It's one of those places that really makes an impact with the combination of history, culture, and just flat out "wow" factor. Definitely a place I will always remember.
Our last stop was the popular Fushimi Inari-Taisha shrine. There are trails all up the mountain side that are lined with tori gates. Each tori gate is said to have been donated by businesses and where many manufactures have gone to worship. Afterall Inari is the God of rice, and we are in Japan :). There are also many fox statues which are known as the messengers of the shrine.
It is definitely a tourist must see stop, but one that did not disappoint. The pathways were lined with beautiful orange tori gates that just weaved up the mountainside. We decided only to hike up a little ways cause we didn't want another monkey forrest/mountain experience!
Our last city to visit on our trip was Osaka. There are tons of stuff to do in Osaka including aquariums, Universal studios, shopping, temples, you name it. However, we only had half a day to spend there and had 2 little kids. So we decided to lay low and explore just the main section downtown in the city. It would be fun to go back though and hit up a lot of their fun entertainment sometime.
We walked the waterfront and famous shopping street that combines pre world war 2 history with modern day. We also had to take a picture with the famous "running guy" that spans over 10 or so stories. Apparently this is the iconic symbol of the city. We ate some delicious food, found more crepes to inhale, and enjoyed our last little bit of sweating in southern Japan.
We had to make the long drive back to Tokyo where we stayed just one night before making the extra long 10 hour drive back up to Misawa. Our last night in Tokyo It was my turn to go through our Temple and do a session while Kyle was on kid duty. It was a wonderful 2 hour break where I felt recharged and ready to take on my 2 rug rats again. We are grateful to have a Temple here in Japan and hope to make the trip to Tokyo 1-2 times a year.
Thank goodness for portable DVD players and strawberry shortcake (Abby's latest favorite movie) cause the trip back home didn't seem all that bad. It was a fun and exhausting trip. The kind of vacation where you almost feel like you need a vacation from your vacation when you get back. We are so happy that we got to explore and see almost all of Japan. We never thought we would fall so in love with this country and with these people. When we first got this assignment we were scared, disappointed, and flat out unexcited. Now I have nothing but wonderful things to say about Misawa and Japan in general. We are loving it here and love living abroad. We truly are making lifetime memories over here.
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