Ok, yeah, Part 2…. Im a horrible Blogger—- Trying to be better come 2020. Goals Ya’ll!

More Kyoto….

Traveling with kids. Well there is alot of patience involved, flexibility, highs and lows, surrender to everything going awol and flying out the window, which kinda happened a bit on this trip! Trying to hit the tops on our list of “Sights to See” was the goal, and I kinda screwed it up… So I guess it really should be “Traveling with Mom” instead… Womp Womp. In my defense, I should NEVER be appointed Navigator, and I blame Google Maps! (Probably operator error ;() I brought us to some of the wrong shrines, yet they were still great! and I took us up a mountain to a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, but hey, thats the norm! But thank goodness for the kids…. (And Husband who did ALL the driving!) Through all of my chaos, they seemed to go with the flow, jump out of the car in soggy shoes (yes, again, it rained the whole time!!!) grab an umbrella, and just have excitement and joy of being wherever we were…. Heart, pitter pat.

On day two in this City, we started out with another great little Cafe… Veg Out. All Vegan bakes and Eats, overlooking the river… It was precious, Farm to Table, and made that want in me to open a little Shop/Cafe even stronger! Ahhh to dream. I know, I say that alot.

The rest of the Morning was spent in an old Historical Samurai House, where the boys had an experience, which I will Blog next! From there we toured the Gion District for the remainder of the day… We strolled in the rain down cobblestone streets dating back centuries, visited a shrine, witnessed a traditional wedding, and Madi had a formal Kimono dressing… As night rolled in, we walked down the busy wet roads to Choice Cafe, and by golly it was delicious! We ate GF Veggie Burgers and had a Vegan Cheese plate, and again I took in every detail, and thought to myself “we could do this someday?!” Maybe??

The following morning we got up bright and early, packed he car, and headed out for coffee… Of course the day we are leaving Kyoto, the sun comes out! Just a quarter mile from our Air BNB was the center of the city, home to the Imperial Palace and Nijo Castle… We parked the car on the side of the road, and walked about the open areas, then decided we couldnt leave and head back home without seeing the Kiyomizu-dera Buddhist Temple… Its was on my “Must See” list, but we ran out of time!! Im so so thankful we made it over there… This temple dates back to 780, and is built on the site of the Otowa Waterfall, named for its pure waters… We were able to hike around through the woods, past a Pagoda, then up to the Temple, where Madi and I toured through… Although its still under renovation, its one of the oldest of the Temples here, it was still magnificent to see. The huge site was covered in tourists and school kids and prayer groups, smells of incense and sounds of drums. A perfect way to end our visit…

Kyoto was not at all what I was expecting, but looking back Im thrilled with the experience we had, that all of us went together, and that another fantastic memorable trip is in the books! After 5 years in Japan, I can finally say “We made it to Kyoto!!”

It feels so good :)