Hi, everyone!
We went to Kyoto on Saturday! We took three different trains to get to the shinkansen station in Yokohama. The shinkansen train goes very fast! Grandpa says it travels about the same speed that big planes go on the runway when they’re about to take off! We traveled along the coast and saw the ocean on one side of the train. On the other side, we could see Mount Fuji! Bill-kun and Karin-chan’s daddy helped me take a nice picture from the train.
After we got to Kyoto, we took two subway trains to get to our hotel. We went walking along the Kawabata river right away and found a park. After Bill-kun and Karin-chan had a chance to swing and slide, we crossed the river and went to a very pretty street. Bill-kun and Karin-chan’s mommy said this is a very famous place to take pictures. While we were there, a bride and groom came to pose for pictures and so did a family celebrating shichi-go-san with their daughter. Then we went to a restaurant that serves fancy ice cream desserts flavored with chestnuts and green tea. Karin-chan let me taste hers, and it was yummy!
After our snack, we walked through the Yasaka shrine on our way to Kiyomizu-dera temple. Karin-chan stopped to do handwashing at the fountain there. Kiyomizu-dera is built on the side of a mountain, and the main temple has a great big porch with a view of the city. There were lots of visitors walking around the paths and lots of places to take photos. After a while, Bill-kun and I had to take a break from looking at all the sights! There were pagodas and gates and shrines all over!
The leaves are just beginning to turn their fall colors, but there are already crowds of people on the narrow old streets.
After dark, we went to Kodai-ji temple to see it lighted up for the evening. The garden had lighted parasols and the trees above the reflecting pond were also lighted. There was a whole grove of bamboo plants lit up, too! It was really beautiful! We walked back to the hotel along the river bank. I was happy to get there and go to bed!
On Sunday morning, we took three trains to get to Arashiyama for our cooking class. We learned how to make traditional Japanese sweets with sugar dough and red bean paste. The shapes we made are special for the fall season. I watched everybody else, so my paws didn’t get sticky! We made nogiku and kyo-ranzan and momiji to take home, but we ate our kouyouga at the end of class. I made sure to thank the instructor for teaching us!
We walked from the sweets shop back to the Katsura river. There were lots of people visiting the temples and walking in the Bamboo Grove. The sun came out and it was getting warm. The cool shade in the Bamboo Grove and by the river felt very nice! Bill-kun and Karin-chan and their mommy and daddy rented row boats, so they could cool off on the water. I watched the men pulling the pedicabs. They have very strong legs!
After the boat rides were over, we walked across the river to the Hourin-ji temple, overlooking Arashiyama. There were a lot of steps to get there, but I made it! I made a new lion friend and looked down on the city from the temple terrace. Bill-kun and Karin-chan found another handwashing fountain. Then we climbed back down the steps, walked back across the river, got to the train station, and took three trains to get back to our hotel.
On Monday, we took a city bus to Kinkaku-ji temple northwest of Kyoto downtown. There were lots of tourists there, too! It was cloudy when we got there, but the sun came out. This temple has a golden pavilion and lots of walks so you can see the pavilion from almost every direction. It was very pretty, too!
All the sightseeing made us hungry! Luckily, there was an ice cream shop on the way to the bus stop, so we got a snack. Bill-kun had chocolate ice cream and raspberry sherbet in his cone. Karin-chan had green tea ice cream and cookie crumb ice cream in hers. I had to help Bill-kun finish his raspberry sherbet. As Grandpa says, “It’s a tough job, but somebody has to do it!” We took the bus back to the hotel, picked up our suitcases, took two trains to the shinkansen station and headed back to Haruhino. Karin-chan’s Queen Elsa doll and I kept Karin-chan company on the shinkansen. On the last train, Bill-kun and Karin-chan’s daddy took the train ahead of the one we took, so he was waiting with the car at the train station when we got there.
Today, Bill-kun and Karin-chan went back to school. Bill-kun’s class went to the Tama Zoo. After school, Grandma and Bill-kun and Karin-chan made an apple pie. I didn’t even have to help!
Love,
Lion-san
It looks like that you had a great adventure! All those pretty temples and all the candy and ice cream. It was warm here today and Joe-san got all the compost that we need for the garden. Have a safe and good flight back.