No I didn’t use the sepia filter on my phone for the Starbucks sign 🙂 This is an area of Kyoto that is so old, the city requires all signage to be in colors indigenous to the area as it used to be. Even the Family Mart, normally visible from afar with its green and blue sign, was done in shades of gray. (As an aside, did you know that the kids are into using filters on their phones that make pictures look like they came from disposable cameras? Katie now uses an actual disposable camera! And, now you can buy Polaroid cameras again–we saw them at all the camera shops!)
Kyoto was spared much of the ravages of WWII. According to the online history lesson, it was on the list of cities to be bombed, but they switched to Nagasaki due in part to the many historical landmarks in Kyoto.
So we had one more day with Todd and Priscila and took the train there. I had only seen a bit of it and it’s only an hour away. Why not completely wear ourselves out and squeeze in one more adventure?!
It was a sunny day and about 81 degrees by the time we got there. Though it was a Monday, it was much more crowded than when I had been there with my friend from Australia. We didn’t complain–Katie said that when she and Mike were there it was right after the New Year and took them 20 minutes to move through the crowd at the Fushimi-Inari Temple and it only took us 5 minutes.  
Today there was even a group of string players entertaining the enthusiastic crowd at the famous temple.  
We didn’t have enough time or energy to climb to the top, so we only went a little ways up, enough for the kids to see the amazing torii gates. You may recall the gates go all the way to the top of the mountain; there are thousands of them. 
We stopped at one of the many interesting temples/shrines to admire the view right on a little pond. Then we circled around through the pretty woods.
Since we left late, we were already seeking lunch options. We found a little cafe and were lucky enough to sit outside in the breezy shade; we were glad because people inside were smoking. The waitress had excellent English and provided great service. The red thing under the chair in the background is a basket to hold purses and bags, which is very common in all restaurants in Japan.  
Kyoto is a fairly large city with a population of 1.5 million and second in tourism only to Tokyo. It’s big enough that we jumped on a train to the next region we wanted to visit, which is very old and formerly where all the Geisha houses were. Much of the original wooden architecture remains in good condition. 
There is a pretty creek running through the area. Just like when I was there before, we saw many men and women dressed in kimonos walking around the city.  
There was a quaint but very busy market area with many temples and shrines. We wandered through the streets and narrow alleys. I was surprised that cars were allowed to drive on the tiled streets. It made it more difficult to move through and sort of detracted from the ambiance.  
Parts of the city were hilly. We came upon a giant Buddha statue that turned out to be a WWII memorial built in 1955. About a hundred crows were flying around and making a lot of noise–cawwwww!!!!  
The subway system is good in Kyoto but not as extensive as other cities. Katie determined the best way to get back to the train station was to take a bus. It was easy to find the bus stop and we squeezed onto the already crowded bus. At the next stop, a group of about 16 middle school kids (and their backpacks) piled on and we bumped and swayed all the way to Kyoto Station. To pay, everyone had to file off past the driver and scan the same train card we had been using all along, so it took a few minutes but using the same card was convenient.
Kyoto Station is beautiful, modern, and quite busy. By now it was 5 p.m. and none of us got seats on either train all the way home.  
By the time we arrived in Namba, we were beat and had snacks at McDonald’s and the Turkish ice cream stand before walking 20 minutes home. We relaxed at home and used up our face masks, sitting around looking silly as Batman, Charmander, and white masks. Then it was time for Todd and Priscila to pack for their early morning flight, while Katie and I reviewed the many things we needed to do over the next couple days before we left.
It was an amazing trip all in all! In the 2 weeks since the kids arrived we had done a lot of big stuff and some smaller jaunts too. We squeezed in another 4 hour Spocha event, which was so much fun and ended in the massage chairs! We went to the movies to see Ready Player One in English with Japanese subtitles. And there was the day to day stuff like buying groceries and drying our clothes at Let’s Laundry. Definitely a memorable experience for all of us!
Photo:Â Starbucks in Kyoto
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