We wanted to be up and out early this morning to get a head
start on the heat. Steve, Emily, Pete and I wandered the streets and found a café
where we ordered coffee and juice, then on the way back to the apartment, we
found a bakery that wasn’t quite open but their door was open. Emily poked
their nose in and they were happy to accommodate us. We bought a few yummy
looking (and VERY fresh) pastries, and then we were on our way!
After breakfast, we headed out. The heat had already gotten much
worse and it was only an hour later! We
caught a bus and headed for the Kiyomizu Temple and Shrine (the only one to have
both a temple and a shrine.) It wasn’t a long bus ride, and soon enough we were
headed up the side of the mountain towards it. Listen to those locust as we walked in the heat!
It was not even 9am and it was starting to get very crowded.
We grabbed some waters and headed in. First stop was to wash our hands, and
then we began our tour. This place also has some connections to Overwatch, so
even though Andy was hot, he was happy to see it. Once inside the temple, it
was a lot cooler than it had been outside, which helped. We had to take off our
shoes to see the interior of the shrine. There were lots of gold idols. And the prayers with bells attached made a nice sound in the wind.
We then lit
some incense, and headed out the back. We turned left towards the shrine. One
of the fun things we found at the shrine were two rocks called the Love Rocks.
If you could successfully walk between them with your eyes closed, your wish
would come true. If you have someone with you, they will help you achieve your
love.
We walked down the backside of the temple and around to the
three flowing waters. We stood in line to drink the water. One stream
represented love, one represented academics and one represented longevity. Em
said you could drink from two. Three would bring bad luck as you would be
greedy. I’ll bet you can guess what we each chose!
After that, we walked down past the temple and back past the
shops on the side of the mountain. We did a little shopping and grabbed ice
cream. It was so good! Pete and Emily had the green tea and Andy and I got the
Mango. Steve was boring with chocolate.
We took a right turn right after the ice cream and found ourselves
at the coolest Starbucks I’ve ever seen!
It was cool in both senses of the word. We ordered drinks and headed
upstairs to sit on Tatami mats and chill. (Steve and Andy sat at a table as
they don’t really do floors well).
After Starbucks, we headed back down to the main drag and
onto a bus for our next stop…SHOPPING!
We got off the bus right in front of the Pokemon Store. I cannot tell
you how excited my kids were. We spent TWO HOURS in that store. They also spent
ALL of their vacation money in that store. I think that place could print money
if they wanted to.
We found bathrooms and then we found lunch at a place called
Nana’s Green Tea Cafe. We all had bowls of rice with various things on top
(Steve and I got the fresh tuna and avocado). The top stuff was great, the rice
had goopy stuff on it that I didn’t really enjoy.
After the café, we headed across the street and caught a bus
down the way to see Tower Records. Emily was hoping to purchase a new release
from one of the guys in the band she follows. Steve said “Record stores? Book stores?
What era is this??” ha!
After the record store we took the boys to a gaming arcade.
THAT was incredible! There are two levels of games. It’s like the old arcades
from when I was growing up, but on steroids. And some of the games these kids
played were mesmerizing to watch.
We had one more
unsuccessful stop trying to find a luggage store for Emily who needs a new carry-on
and then we headed back to the apartment to shower and regroup.
After an hour or so of recovering from the heat and all the
walking we had done, we headed BACK OUT! Fortunately it wasn’t a long walk as
we were just going down the way for very good Ramen (according to Emily.) This
is the area where she stayed when she was at Principia, so she knows this area very
well. She was so happy to see the ramen place still there. We had to wait a few
moments for it to open, but once it did, we were the first ones in! They had a vending
machine where you chose your ramen, and then you got a ticket you gave to the
guys to make your meal. A very interesting way to do it. A lot of it was
guessing because everything was in Japanese, but Emily pointed us to some of
the buttons she had pressed when she was here five years ago and said to trust
her, those were very good choices. Once all monies put in and all buttons
pressed, we all lined up with our tickets and were served THE BEST RAMEN OF MY
LIFE. The pork in it was so good I was sad when it was over. The broth was
amazing, and they added garlic for us. SO yummy.
No comments:
Post a Comment