Day 7 – Kyoto!

The view out the back of our hotel

The view out my window this morning was so peaceful. I could see the ferries ready to take people to and from Miyajima island. We showered and packed up as quickly as we could, then went downstairs to check out. They had little breakfast offerings, but we wanted to catch the 8:25 ferry, so we said just coffee and OJ. I was hoping it would be enough to get us to the next meal (and I didn’t know when that would be!). We headed onto the ferry and off the island, saying goodbye once more to the tori gate.

Deer everywhere!

 

In our matching shirts today!

Always planning...

Once back on the mainland, we took the subway back towards the station where we’d take another Shinkansen (bullet train). We knew we wanted to try to at least see the Peace Park at Hiroshima before we caught the train, so Steve and Emily figured out the most efficient way to get there so that we still had time to eat back at the train station.

We switched from the subway to a cable car (I think we’ve now ridden every type of vehicle except a helicopter!) and made our way over to the Genbaku Dome. You could see it as soon as you got off the cable car. It was the only building to survive the bombing, and so they have preserved it as a memorial. The area around there was beautiful, but the history is so dark.

We walked around the dome, and then down to another little memorial for the children. It listed the names of the children who died, and there were metal reliefs on the side showing children working. Emily said that was to indicate that the children who survived could no longer be children…that they had to work. There were also chains of flying cranes there with prayers. A most somber place.

Children's Memorial

Cranes for the children

Relief showing children working

Emily and her "student"

After taking in as much as we could, we headed back to the cable car, and back to the station with plenty of time for food. We found a café that served breakfast, so we went in and sat down. After a time of waiting for our food, a Japanese woman came over and asked us where we were from. We said the US. She seemed very excited and asked if she could read something to us she had written so she could practice her English and her spelling. She sat next to Emily and read aloud something about orphan children needing love. Emily then went through with her and corrected her spelling and worked with her to pronounce the words she hadn’t gotten quite right the first time. IT WAS ADORABLE! J

The cutest breakfast plate

She was so grateful and thanked us over and over. Our food came, and while we were eating, she came back with coffee candy and green tea candy for each of us to say thank you. She then sat near me and told me about how the green tea was good for digestion, although she was speaking ½ English and ½ Japanese…but I got it.

Iced tea!!

By the way, I should mention that when you order coffee or tea in Japan, they give you a tiny pitcher of simple syrup to sweeten it. IT IS SUGAR THAT IS ALREADY DISSOLVED!! I must find this wonderful pitcher somewhere and buy it to serve to my guests. It’s brilliant! And I must say I was very excited to get iced tea for the first time on this trip! Peter's Melon soda was awesome too!

Melon soda Mmmmm

Second Shinkansen!

After lunch, we crowded into the 7-11 for snacks on the train, and then over to the bookstore to shop for a bit as we still had a little time, and we didn’t want to have to wait on the hot platform for the train. It was a successful venture as Steve and Andy bought a few books and I bought some gifts.

Once on the train, we had two hours to do whatever while we shot across Japan. By the way, they have the cutest little jingle right before they make an announcement. I tried to record it once. Everything in Japan is cute!

Another bus...where's our apartment??

Once in Kyoto, we had to walk the HUGE labyrinth maze underground around the station to find the right exit for our bus. We did eventually find it, and wound up on a 45 minute bus ride to the apartment where we’ll be staying.  We were SO HOT. The first thing we did was spend 15 minutes trying to read a Japanese remote control to get the a/c to work! We finally did, and almost everyone took showers while we waited for the apartment to cool down.

Pork cutlet

Once we had regrouped, we headed off to dinner. We found a restaurant that had been listed in our host’s book as a local recommendation. IT WAS SO GOOD!  I had the tempura with rice (I can’t get enough of tempura!), Steve, Peter, Andy and Emily all had the a fried pork cutlet.

My tempura!

Andy’s added egg on top and Steve and Peter got the meal which also had rice, tofu, noodle slaw and miso soup. We were finally full and ready for our evening.

At the gate

Always wash your hands!

Walking through the gates. 

Sooo many gates!

We headed off to another bus, and then the subway (none of this is very easy to navigate. Props to Emily for figuring it all out!) and then to the beautiful Fushimi Inari Temple. We were running against daylight, but we made it just at dusk to see the temple. We washed our hands outside and went in, and then up the hill (many, many stairs) to see the 1,000 tori gate walk.  We walked through it, and there was an option to walk all the way to the top of the mountain with more tori gates, but we passed as it was now dark and the temperature was still 90 degrees outside! (we could never have done this in the middle of the day)

 We walked back down and over to a convenience store for snacks for the subway ride back home. After the ride back, we discussed tomorrow and headed off to bed. Another busy day! We are, once again, exhausted.