Kyoto

Kyoto was fabulous—a great city to visit.  So much history and beauty!  I really think you could spend a month there and not see everything.  Not exactly the number one city for a toddler and an infant, but we made it work. 

Before we get to the sights, I’ve got some odds and ends from the city to show you.  Two of the images that exemplify, for me, the city of Kyoto, I saw within my first few minutes in the city when I was too busy rounding up kids and bags to snap pictures.  The first image was a small family Shinto shrine set up right in front of the giant Nintendo headquarters building.  The second was a Buddhist monk in robes and sandals chasing after a bus. 

The capital of Japan for over a thousand years, Kyoto is said to be where the Japanese come to learn what it means to be Japanese.  The city center is a mass of modern steel, glass and concrete, ringed by a maze of wood and paper temples, shrines and traditional neighborhoods like Gion, the famous geisha district.  Then, just beyond the houses and apartment buildings, Kyoto is surrounded on three sides by mountains.

View from our hotel window.

Our pocket-sized Japanese hotel room.  Very cozy but sufficient for our needs. 

Naomi seemed to like it well enough.

Logan’s favorite part?  The multiple forms of transportation that we took most every day—subways, local trains, city buses.  Never-ending fun!

The experienced travelers.

  
Oh, and it was cold!  We stayed well-bundled the entire time we were there.  It even SNOWED!

We were definitely able to use the sweater that Aunt Sarah (SG) made for Naomi.  Thanks!


My one disappointment with Kyoto was the playgrounds.  We found four different playgrounds while we were there, but they were all really pitiful, ill-equipped and/or run-down in comparison with the ones we are used to here in Oki. 

On the flip side, one of many particularly cool things about the city was how bike-friendly it was.  There were a ton of people on bikes, bike lanes on the sidewalks, bike racks next to all the subway entrances, even little bicycle parking lots at many places throughout the city.  I saw several parents toting two kids around on their bike—one in a seat on the handlebars and another on a seat over the back tire.  I think I need a bike equipped like that!

Did you know they can grow oranges in Kyoto in the winter?

The rest (of this post) are all just random street scenes that I liked for one reason or another.  Hope you enjoy them as well.  I’ll be back with the really exciting stuff very soon.