Japan Trip: Part 3 (Kyoto)

We arrived in Yokohama on Wednesday, after a fairly long day of traveling (a train to the Shinkansen station, the Shinkansen, and then a hotel shuttle bus ride from the train station). After checking into our hotel, we decided to do a little exploring and walked to Nanzenji. Unfortunately, it was closing so we didn't stay too long.

Instead, we walked to dinner and had some yakisoba (probably my favorite Japanese meal) in a small restaurant. This was our first time on the trip to eat in traditional Japanese style (no shoes, on the floor) and Olivia got a big kick out of it.

The next morning, we headed back to Nanzenji. We climbed very steep stairs to the top of this building (see pic below). It was freezing, as we climbed up there in just our socks.

After Nanzenji, we stopped for some coffee and warmed up a bit and then headed a little further down the road to the Kyoto City Zoo.

It was fairly small and undergoing construction and very different than the zoos we have been to at home, but we had fun nonetheless.

After the zoo, we stopped for some lunch at another traditional Japanese restaurant and then walked to Heian Jingu (see pics below). We walked around the beautiful garden there. After such a busy day, we headed back to the hotel and decided to stay in and have dinner at the restaurant there.

Friday morning, Yusaku, the girls, and I had breakfast at our hotel and then met up with Yusaku's parents to go to a paint-your-own pottery place. This was probably one of my favorite experiences of the trip. I love doing hands-on activities and it was a nice diversion from sightseeing. We had to leave the pottery there to be fired so we asked them to send the finished pieces to Yusaku's uncle with the plan of Takashi picking them up on his trip in March and bringing them back home then. I can't wait to get them!

After leaving the pottery place, we grabbed some lunch before returning to the hotel to meet up with Yosuke and Manami. All of us hopped into two taxis and headed to Kiyomizudera. I love the walk up the hill Kiyomizudera. It is lined with lots of little shops selling souvenirs and foods and people are handing out samples to try.

We were a bit frozen after exploring Kiyomizudera, so we stopped into a restaurant for some coffee, tea, and snacks to warm up. After leaving the restaurant and some more walking around, we took a taxi to the restaurant where we were meeting the Arakis for dinner.

We ate a delicious multi-course meal in a private room of a traditional style Japanese restaurant. It is always nice to see them. I wish we didn't live so far away. They are a very nice family.

On our last day in Kyoto, I started off the day by trying vending machine coffee for the first time. It wasn't bad. Still seems strange to me to get a warm drink from a vending machine, but, oh well.

We went to Kinkakuji (see pics below), had some lunch, and then checked out Ryoanji before taxing a (very long) taxi ride to the train station. This was followed by a train ride to Osaka, which is where I will pick up my next post.