Kyoto Day 3

Because of the time change, we've been waking up every day between 4:30 and 5:00am. Because I have a half coming up next month, I forced my lethargic okole out the door and logged in a predictably sluggish 5-6 miles along the Kamogawa River. Even though the river isn't the most picturesque- it is blissfully peaceful, traffic free, paved, relatively empty (save for a few token drunks and the classiest homeless people you'll ever see) and if you let your imagination run wild- filled with plenty to see and visualize. I loved meandering past the okiya (tea house) terraces perched over the water, watching the Japanese cranes search for fish, dodging stones along the path that samurai/geisha probably once did too, etc. I needed the distraction too, because it was steaming, even at 5:45am.

Once I got back to the apartment (drenched in a such a layer of sweat that I will never again complain about Hawaii's comparatively frosty summers) and showered, we walked over to nearby Heian Jingu...Ryan's first 'real' shrine. Because he went to a Christian preschool (that we dearly love and appreciate), we want to expose him to other faiths as well...so we always try to visit local churches, cathedrals, mosques, temples and shrines whenever we can. A few pics of Heian  Jingu...

The giant torii that we can see from our living room each day

Not sure how giant sake barrels fits into the picture, but I guess even monks get thirsty sometimes. ;-)

Cleansing their dirty, sinful hands

Ryan was fascinated by these little wooden postcard-like pieces that people buy and write the blessings/wishes they wish to receive on them. 

A gorgeous, thriving Japanese matsu (pine tree) on the temple grounds...

From Heian Jingu, we walked over to two other nearby temples on our former 'circuit' of temples...Shoren-in, and my favorite temple in Kyoto- Chion-in. I always loved how the massive, steep stone steps made me feel so tiny (no small task when you're full of Chip Star).

Shoren-in rock garden

The steps leading into Chion-in...that teeny tiny blue & beige blob scrambling up the second flight of stairs is Ryan. :-)

Ry and I chose to dash up while Rich rested with our gear (that's him to the right in the white)...but this picture gives you a better perspective of how much of a climb it is up those steps. Their size makes me feel more 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' than 'Memoirs of Geisha' if you know what I mean...

Our fourth and final temple of the day required a not-very-pleasant 60+ minute hot, sticky and cramped bus ride across town to the city's most popular temple- Kinkakuji (Golden Temple). As a child, I remember staring at its picture on my favorite box of arare (rice crackers), never imaging that one day I would see it, and then return 16 years later to show it to my own son.

Entrance to Kinkakuji temple grounds

Because Mika and the boys live minutes away from Kinkakuji, Kenichi met us there and walked us to their beautiful home. While there, Ryan was gifted with a brand new Shinkansen umbrella from Aunty Mika and we were given a miniature hoko (float) replica from the upcoming Gion Matsuri (festival) from Daimaru by her parents. From there, we caravan-ed over to an very futuristic, popular kaiten sushi restaurant.

You could order sushi from a touch screen monitor at your table, as well as deposit your used plates into a machine that counted how many you had consumed and once you'd had 5- made you eligible to win a small prize that would automatically dispense to you from a machine above each table. That gave us 9 chances to win (cough! cough! Yeah...you do the math on that one...but it wasn't just us, Mika and her parents were at the next table over too!), but we only won once! Poopy odds, but still fun. The entire experience was like having sushi...in 2050...at a Mars space station. :-)