We got up at 6 am, taxis were off by 7am for the airport. We got there with 2 plus hours to spare, brought breakfast of hard boiled eggs, baoza and sesame buns with us. We were taking part in a shared flight, so we had an hour flight got off(still in China), went through customs and got back on the same plane. But now(since we were the last ones back on) other people decided not to follow their tickets and were sitting in our spots. But at least we went from sitting 2 by 2by 2 to 3 by 3.
Asked for Ginger Ale on the flight, got the strangest look. Forgot it's an American thing. You'd think asians eat enough ginger they would like it?
Once we arrived in Japan it was the same shade of gray due to rain as the smog skies we left behind in Beijing. We had a nice surprise, my husbands friend met us at the airport to welcome us and make sure we got on the right bus from Kansai to Kyoto. They are super picky about the money they accept in Japan. They will only except bills without any creases or many folds.
Even from the evening light on the highway, you can see how clean it is here. So glad we chose the bus, since they store the luggage for us and they had a bathroom aboard. My kids were the only ones using it on the hour and half bus ride to Kyoto. Luckily we were sitting by it and not in front of the jump seats(pull down aisle seats).
It was still sprinkling when we arrived in Kyoto, the subway entrance was right there, so I hefted one bag at a time down the stairs. Didn't even think to look for an elevator(this will not be missed on the return). Got to our rental house at 7pm. By 8:30 we were eating Japanese food. Myself Katsudon shared with the boys, they split the omlete rice. My mom and mother-in-law both got fried chicken one katsu style the other with grated diakon on it. My father-in-law a fish & meatball seto. None of them were impressed with the food or prices. The highest price was 750yen. Really this is good price. The boys didn't get to bed util 10:30(but it was 9:30 Beijing time)
Woke up at 8(7 Beijing time). Breakfast of vitamin c lemon gel pack, chocolate bread, mikan jello and aloe, white grape drink with peach. Yumm. I was so happy when I woke up and saw no rain, as I was in the process of saying we can go to Fushimiinari(my favorite place) when it started to rain. Not hard, but sprinkling, I didn't want to chance a slip in fall with the older kids of the group. So my back up rain plan was to go to the train museum. Once my friend Amy arrived, we rode the subway back to Kyoto and took a bus. Japanese buses you need to push a stop button to let the driver know you want to get off, it will not stop unless they see people waiting for the bus.
The train museum was pretty cool that they had a round house and the kids could go into the engine and pull on all the levers. They only had 2 or 3 actual working trains. We got to ride one of the steamys. It was maybe a 5 minute ride backing up then another 5 min pulling forward. Big whoop. But the kids liked it. They had several train "coins" to chose and either inset into a necklace or keychain, we also had their names imprinted on them. Well Ethan lost his before we even left. We couldn't find it and I wasn't going to buy another one at $7. Hopefully he learns.
For lunch we ate at my favorite restaurant, Capriccosa! Yum we had the tuna and ika salad, rice croquet, margarettia pizza and drum roll please the dish! Ah, I inhailed the wafting smell of garlic. Yes the spicy tomato garlic spagetti. It still tastes as good as I remember it. While there we ran into another family on holiday, twin boys with parents and grandparents. We had a chat over the insanity of twin energy. I can only explain it as a 24 hour slumber party. They had a much nicer way of saying it,"they are best mates."
Amy left and we went back to the house to meet another friend, Reiko. A good Japanese friend I met while she was studying in the states. She now has kids too, so it was fun to get the kids together. We walked down to Maruyama Park to see the famous cherry tree. They were just starting to set up the food booths. Since we went so late in the evening, we got to see them lit up too! Yeah!
No comments:
Post a Comment