Hi everyone!
We had a busy week! On Monday, we took the train to go to Nikko, up in the mountains. We had to get up very early and walk to the local train station to get to Shinjuku on time for our Nikko train! We bought breakfast food at Shinjuku to eat on the Nikko train. Guess what? Bill-kun’s loose front tooth finally came out while we were on the train! When we got to Toru-Nikko, we took a bus to the World Heritage Site. Karin-chan and I got to sit up front in the bus, next to the driver!
The bus took us to the Toshogu shrine. That shrine is the burial place of a Shogun (a famous leader) and has lots of pretty temples. It has been very hot in Tokyo, but up here in the mountains it’s cool and damp. That’s why important people came here in the summer! There are river pebbles in all the courtyards. One of the temples has a famous carving of three monkeys showing that children should “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil”. Karin-chan and Bill-kun helped me get up the steps to the main area of the shrine, so I could see the pretty buildings and look inside the courtyards.
Then we went further up the mountain to see the Shogun’s burial place. There were a LOT more steps! Grandma and Karin-chan helped me, and I made it all the way to the top! The burial place is pretty and cool and mossy. After we climbed back down, I made a new lion friend and we walked on a pretty road between shrines. The stone lanterns lit the way along the road at night.
While we were waiting for our ride to the ryokan where we were staying, it started to rain. So we went into a store and had some very special shave ice! The ice blocks are cut from a local lake during the winter and the strawberry syrup was homemade with real strawberries in it! It was yummy! The road to the ryokan took us even further up into the mountains and was very twisty! By the time we got to the ryokan, Bill-kun, Karin-chan and I all needed a rest! Then we changed into our ryokan clothes for dinner. Dinner reminded me of the meals we had at the ryokan in Hakone last year, except it wasn’t served in our room.
On Tuesday, it was raining again! We took a bus ride to see some of the waterfalls in Nikko National Park. They are very pretty! All the lakes had heavy mist over them. When we got to Kegon Falls, the mist was so heavy we couldn’t even see it! A little while later the wind blew the mist away, so we got to see the falls, after all!
From Kegon Falls, we could walk to the Nikko Natural Science Museum. That was a good place to visit on a rainy day! We learned about the volcano that made the lakes and falls and meadows and about the animals that live in the Nikko national forest. Bill-kun had a chance to do some origami and made friends with two really big bugs! Karin-chan played a computer game about bugs. It stopped raining, so Bill-kun and Karin-chan took a ride in a swan paddle boat on Lake Chuzenji with their daddy and Grandma. Bill-kun and Karin-chan took turns being the captain! Then we had ice cream while we waited for our ride back to the ryokan. It’s a good thing Karin-chan’s favorite flavor is matcha (green tea), because the drips match her dress!
On Wednesday the sun came out, but it was time to go home. Bill-kun got a stag beetle to keep as a pet. Then we took another winding road back down the mountain to the train station. There were 28 hairpin turns! We took four trains to get home!
On Thursday, we had a quiet day at home. Bill-kun and Karin-chan and I played a labyrinth game. The controls are hard to handle with paws! Then Karin-chan played a song just for me on the keyboard and there was a game of Hop on Grandpop. Grandma took Karin-chan and me for a ride around the neighborhood on a bicycle, then Karin-chan showed me the video of her dance performance from school.
On Friday, we were off on the train again! This time we took a different train to go to Asakusa. I was there before with Grandma and Grandpa, but Bill-kun and Karin-chan had never been there. Asakusa is a market area that still looks the way it did a long time ago. It was very hot and crowded with tourists. I was glad when Karin-chan found a block of ice so I could cool my paws! We had lunch in a traditional tempura restaurant where you sit on the floor. I’m getting better with chopsticks!
After lunch, we took a train to Skytree. Skytree is a really tall tower for radio and TV signals, and right now it is the second tallest tower in the world! It was still being built when Grandma and Grandpa took me to the Tokyo Tower two years ago. Lots of people want to go to the top to see Tokyo, so Bill-kun and Karin-chan’s mommy reserved tickets in advance. While we waited for our turn, we had shave ice again! That tasted good on a very hot day! Then we got to go up the elevator to the observation deck. The air is hazy in summer, but we could still see lots of buildings. And guess what? There was a glass floor, just like the CN Tower in Toronto! Of course, I had to lie down on it to look all the way down to the ground!
While we were waiting for our turn, we had shave ice again!
When we were all done looking around, we took the elevator back down. Then we took three trains to get home. Karin-chan fell asleep on the train after our very busy day!
Love,
Lion-san
That looked like a fun trip! The mountains looked pretty as did the falls. I bet Grandma was uneasy about looking down thru the glass floor. Hope you gave her a big hug after that!
We had rain yesterday all day! I’m wondering if we had another tropical storm but Joe-san said no. It is the 3rd Friday in a row for rain! Nancy-san started a puzzle!