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Kyoto Trip

Kyoto (京都) is the old capital of Japan, before Tokyo. There are a ton of world heritage sites all over the city, but we were only able to see a couple. We only had 4 days, but we definitely made the best of them. Originally we had planned 7 days, but we all got sick and had to delay few days and ended up with only 4 days. So we arrived on Monday (Dec 30) evening and left on Friday (Jan 3) early morning.

Kyoto is about 375 miles from us so we took the Shinkansen there.

We have a bus station right at the end of our street. So we took the bus to Utsunomiya station, then we took the Shinkansen from there. This prevented us from having to park our car at the station all week. Plus the kids love riding the bus. Unfortunately, it was raining when we left so we had to stand out in the rain for 10 minutes waiting on the bus.

We had actually bought our Shinkansen tickets about a month ago so we would have reserved seats for the trip. New Years time is an extremely busy time to travel in Japan and Yuhei suggested we do that. Unfortunately, since we got sick and had to push our departure a few days, we had to change to open seat tickets for first come first serve. From Utsunomiya to Tokyo it wasn’t so bad. We got to the train about 20 minutes early and easily found a seat. But from Tokyo, we waited in a super long line and had to wait for 2 Shinkansens to fill up and leave before the third one had room for us. But we got really lucky and were able to get a seat and not have to stand for 2.5 hours.

We arrived in Kyoto around 5pm on Monday. Our hotel room was pretty perfect for the kids because we could look right out of our window and see the train station. You could actually watch the trains enter, pick up passengers, and depart. The kids could have watched that for hours.


DAY 1


On Tuesday morning we got up and tried to go to a train museum since the kids are so into trains right now. However, the museum was closed for the New Years week holiday. So we had to change our plans and go to the Kyoto Aquarium instead. Which ended up being awesome. We got there just in time to see a great dolphin show. The kids were amazed. Then we went to see the penguins, seals, and we got to see a diver swimming behind the glass feeding the stingrays. The kids were so interested in watching him. Caroline asked so many questions about how much air he had in his tank and how long it lasts. Before we left, we let the kids play a game where they had to reach into a container and pull out a ticket to win a prize. Its pretty much automatic to win, but they didn’t know that. They each won a dolphin stuffed animal! And they were so happy with them. Heather and I loved seeing the magic of watching a dolphin show then getting to win a dolphin stuffed animal for the kids. They took the dolphins back to the hotel and acted like they were giving them baths and brushing their teeth.

We walked back from the aquarium to the hotel and let Nathan take a nap. When he woke up we decided to go see the Great Ginkgo Tree. So we started walking. When we got there, it was 6pm and the tree area had just closed. So we started walking back. And then it started to rain, and it started to get windy, and cold. Luckily I had a small umbrella with me that Caroline used. It turned inside out a few times due to the strong wind. Caroline was so tough though and powered through it. We made it back to Kyoto Station and decided to explore that area a bit. We learned that the station was a whole adventure in itself. The main area is called “The Cube”. Its a giant atrium of exposed beams and there are escalators that go all the way to the top. The weather scared off a lot of people so we got most of the place to ourselves for a while.


DAY 2


Day 2 we went to Nishiki Market. Normally this place is bustling with a ton of Japanese shops and food, but most of them were closed due to New Years. It was still a good experience to see the market and walk without a lot of the crowds. Caroline got some dango on a stick, but she didn’t like it. She always wants dango because it looks like candy, but its really just rice balls. Then she always says she doesn’t like it.

After that we went back for naps at the hotel, then out to Fushimi Inari. The thousand torii gates. It was super crowded. Especially at the entrance. Once you start walking through the gates, people got less and less. The gates go really far up the mountain, and as you go further, people just turn around and go back. The kids complained, but we felt it was worth it. We basically carried two kids up a mountain. It was exhausting. It was really pretty once we got to the lookout point. We could look out at the city. Then we walked back down and through some delicious street food vendors. We got some yakitori and also some sort of Turkish wraps.

It was dark by the time we left that area, but we wanted to see this old area where its possible to see a Geisha, called Gion. Of course when we got there, everything was closed, but all the lanterns were still lit so it was really pretty and calm.

We went to dinner at the station that night. The kids got pancakes for dinner.


DAY 3


Day 3 was our busiest day. We decided at the beginning that we would be skipping naps just to fit everything in. We got up early and went to the bamboo forest. It was nice that we got there early because there were few people and we could get some great pics.

Near the bamboo forest, there is a famous bridge called Arashiyama Bridge. We walked down to it and around the banks and saw the pretty views.

On the way back to the train station we found a Rilakuma shop and got some cute little treats. The kids love Rilakuma so they were really excited about it.

Once we made it back to the station, we actually decided to take a taxi to the next stop. The next stop was Kinkaku-ji, which is a gold plated temple and world heritage site. There is no direct path to this temple and the bus was a little difficult because of so many people so we just paid for a taxi for convenience. It was super worth it.

From Kinkaku-ji, we took the bus to another old beautiful Japanese street area. Apparently the streets were built around 700AD. In this area there is a Sannenzaka and Ninenzaka or 3 year hill and 2 year hill. If you trip and fall on either of these hills you will supposedly die within 2 or 3 years. Fortunately we managed to walked up and down them successfully.

Finally at the end of the 3rd day, we made it back to Kyoto station for a water fountain light show. Caroline had been looking forward to this all week. It was a good ending to our week because the next morning we had to get up early to ride the Shinkansen back to Utsunomiya. We bought reserved seat tickets this time and didn’t have to wait in any long lines like when we came.


DAY 4


Day 4 heading home. Shinkansen from Kyoto to Tokyo, then Tokyo to Utsunomiya, then bus from Utsunomiya Station right to our neighborhood. Successful week.

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