Wednesday April 9th

We decided to not waste the last morning in Hiroshima, since we loved this city so much, and walked up to the castle. We walked the grounds and inside the rebuilt castle (it was destroyed during the bomb of course) fairly quickly since we had to be back in time for check out. Then took a bullet train to Kyoto! Found our Airbnb tucked away down a small alleyway, dropped our stuff and went out again. There is a ramen restaurant there that I really wanted to go to but it’s small and people say they waited hours in line for, so I decided we should eat dinner at 3:30. It worked perfectly, no line, we sat right at the counter and got to watch the kitchen in action, then ate our delicious ramen (mine with GF noodles). After our early dinner we went to a tea ceremony where we were dressed in Kimonos and they did my hair up in some elaborate updo. We took pictures in their Japanese gardens and then sat on tatami mats learning about the tea traditions and how to make matcha tea. We were also given some little sweets to eat with it which were good. None of us love Matcha tea, but it was such a little amount that we were given, that it wasn’t difficult to drink it all and not be rude. We all thoroughly enjoyed the experience, even though it was a touristy thing to do, we still learned a lot and it was fun dressing in traditional clothes. There’s a huge covered market that we wandered around afterwards. I think all the cities in Japan have these covered market areas, we went to the one in Nagoya, walked by the one in Hiroshima and now in Kyoto. Paul and I found a small bar probably no bigger than our bathroom at home and at one point we had 12 people in that bar! The boys enjoyed shopping on their own. Kyle even bought an entire outfit for less than $95! The prices here are cheaper for most food, drinks and merchandise. The lodging and bullet trains are more expensive.

Thursday April 10th 

We all wandered the city a bit around where we are staying, going to Starbucks for breakfast and then hitting the streets while they were still somewhat quiet. We stumbled upon quaint back alleyways and wooden houses, lots of temples and shrines, and a beautiful park. Eventually we all met back up at the Airbnb and took the train to Arashiyama. A village just outside of Kyoto. We walked up a hill to a monkey park where wild snow monkeys are encouraged by food to stick around. It was cute to watch the monkeys just walk right by us or jump onto the roof of the one building that is up there. We even saw some swinging from the trees. Climbing back down the mountain was a lot easier than going up, so we did it quickly, then we made our way over to the famous bamboo forest that is located in the town. The town was very crowded, but the bamboo forest itself wasn’t too bad. The trees were very tall and beautiful. Unfortunately the train heading back to Kyoto was very crowded, so we stood smooshed in for the 40 minute trip. We were all hungry and tired by then so went to an Indian restaurant that Paul had spotted earlier. We all thoroughly enjoyed our meals, having eaten Indian food many a times in US, we knew what we were getting and I knew what was safe for me to eat-which is such a nice feeling! The boys went back to the Airbnb afterwards and Paul and I wandered around trying to find a bar to have a night cap in, but oddly enough that was a difficult task. We went to a hotel nearby (which we found out later is the hotel my sister and family are staying in when they come to Kyoto this summer!) but the hotel was hosting a private event, so the bar was closed. We ended up walking a bit and finding this hole in the wall beer and sake place. The bar, called Windmill, had about 10 seats total, a guy in his 60’s owns the bar and is a huge lover of British rock bands. We were the only ones in there for a while, so the owner taught us a bit about sake and I tasted a few. Paul and I really haven’t drunk sake in the past so it was a nice lesson. I learned that I like dry sake and not fruity ones. Same as my wines. When we left, it was pouring rain, we got soaked as we were running back to our Airbnb! 

Friday April 11th 

We stuck around Kyoto. First thing in the morning we walked up to one of the shrines near us, it is the Pure Water Shrine. When I first approached it, it wasn’t too bad, but I waited for Paul and Braydon to get their coffees and meet me up there and by the time they showed up, all the tour groups were there and the shrine was packed. We did a self guided walking tour of Kyoto, next up was Gion, which is where one could spot a Geisha, we did not see any though. Then a busy shopping street in the bustling city, where Kyle bought some engraved chopsticks and Pokemon cards. Paul and Braydon decided to buy a Swatch watch each! I did not buy anything. We ended up ditching the boys in the Pokemon store and Paul and I headed up to the National Gardens, which in my opinion were a waste of time. I thought they were pristine Japanese gardens. They were not. They were kind of boring. Oh well, back on the bus. We went to Pontocho Alley, which is know for dinner restaurants and a lively atmosphere after dark, but we were there around 3:00 in the afternoon so most places were closed, which meant it wasn’t too crowded. We ended up finding a bar that was open and sitting watching the action on the river below. The excitement of the afternoon was watching Black Kites (birds of prey) dive bomb and steal food from unsuspecting picnickers along the river’s edge. All of a sudden girls are screaming and waving their arms, running away from the birds. Then a couple (we assume on a date) has food stolen from their hands. As we sat comfortably with a cover over our heads watching the action and laughing along with two Australian women who were celebrating their 60th birthdays. We enjoyed chatting with the Australian’s who have been friends with each other for 45 years. Later that evening the boys and us went to dinner at Sugarhill Kyoto and the boys and I enjoyed chicken teriyaki, while Paul got some sort of sashimi. Next to us were Americans from San Francisco with young kids that were quite lively, so we ended up talking with all of them. It’s funny how we end up talking to so many people when abroad, but we don’t do it much at home. We had a pleasant evening weather wise on Friday, so we took advantage and went to see a light show at one of the shrines. I loved it, seeing the shrine lit up at night and then added digital effects was really cool, plus it wasn’t crowded, a huge bonus. This particular shrine has a bamboo lined path you walk through that they lit up as well and put twinkling lights on the bamboo, it was so pretty. 

Saturday April 12th 

Our last full day in Kyoto. On my itinerary for the day we were scheduled to go to Nara, a town 45 minutes south of Kyoto to see the bowing deer. We weren’t in a hurry so we had a leisurely morning then headed to the train station. When we arrived we noticed all the trains were delayed due to a suspicious object on the tracks. Although we thought the tracks had been cleared and they were running service again, we could see the jam-packed platforms and decided to wait a bit. Kyoto station is huge, so we started to go up, up and away! At the top of the station they have a sky garden, a sky walkway, and restaurants, etc. The very top is called happy terrace. It had a great view of all of Kyoto. We grabbed a tea/coffee/pastry at a coffee shop overlooking the city and then in no hurry got a train to Nara. In Nara, we walked through the town in search of Nara Park where the deer are, it was a lot further than we anticipated, but finally we found them. At first we couldn’t find deer crackers to feed them, so it was hard to get the deer to bow to us, but they certainly let us pet them-these deer are not shy. Once we secured some sacred deer crackers, we enjoyed bowing to the deer and having them bow back. Of course, some of the deer were still trying to get used to this bowing thing and they would just do head circles, they looked like drunk deer! The boys and I really enjoyed feeding the deer, but we especially liked seeing the deer get annoyed quickly with some people who were not feeding them fast enough so they gave them some love bites, making people squeal. This gave us all a good laugh. We walked around the shrines and temples in Nara, some with huge Buddha statues. But since the trains were delayed, we arrived late in the day and didn’t have a ton of time there, so ended up heading back to Kyoto on a very crowded train, unfortunately we had to stand the whole trip back all separated. We had dinner reservations at a very popular ramen place that evening that we had to get back to. But when we arrived at our Airbnb, Paul went to grab the laundry that was put in several hours earlier and the machine was completely full of water. This machine is a wash and dry all in one machine, so it shouldn’t be full of water. After much struggle trying to figure it out, I texted the owner who came out to try and fix it. He was there maybe 5 minutes before he asked Paul what he thought of Trump’s tariffs! Oh dear to be an American abroad right now is interesting. Literally everyone we’ve met has asked us our opinions on the state of our nation right now. I'm not going to get political, so back to Saturday night. We rushed to dinner at Moon and Back Ramen, after our laundry debacle and were fortunate to have our reservation because the line was around the corner when we got there and when we left. (We actually sent Braydon ahead, with his long legs he as able to weave through the crowds and secure our spot-the restaurant had said if we were late they'd give it away) We all got Wagyu ramen, where thinly sliced raw Wagyu steak was hanging off the edge of our bowls, then they came around and torched it with what we would call a Crème Brule torch. We all enjoyed it except Braydon, who thought the broth was too fishy. He didn’t even like his noodles, which was a bummer. Bot both boys got a waffle dessert that they enjoyed. I tried to order white wine for dinner but they didn’t have any, so I ended up getting a dry sake (since I learned the night before that I like it), they served it in a cedar box, that I was able to keep. It wasn’t the easiest thing drinking out of a wooden box, but it was fun nonetheless. The Australian family sitting next to us ordered Gin and Tonics which looked real yummy so Paul ordered one of those. They brought out blue Gin and added the tonic which turned it purple! It truly was beautiful and delicious. After dinner we split up and walked around. I ended up buying some menthol patches to help with my tennis elbow pain I’ve been suffering. After using it last night, I have to say it works while you’ve got the patch on-unfortunately, I don’t believe there’s any lasting effects. But they were cheap!