Day Three: Kyoto-Nanao

Alarm clocks?  Who needs ‘em!  We were all up by 5:30am, some as early as 4:30, even though breakfast wasn’t until 7:30.  Breakfast was the same as yesterday -- good.  We were going to try to go back to the Nijo Castle and the Kiyomizu Temple, a World Heritage site and one of the seven modern wonders of the world.  Our train wasn't until 1:13pm so we figured if we could get ourselves to the Nijo Castle right when it opened at 8:45am, we'd have enough time to see both it and the Kiyomizu temple.

2009_Junior_Wings_Day_Three

 

The kids were great.  We were at the bus stop at 8:09 to catch the 8:12 bus (which came four seconds past 8:12!).  We walked into the Nijo Castle grounds at 8:49.  Wow, what an amazing building.  The castle buildings were built in 1603 and served to protect Kyoto as well as provide a residence for the shogun when he visited from Edo (Tokyo).  One of the distinguishing features is of the main outer palace building is its “Nightingale Floor,” a veranda that runs around the perimeter of the palace that squeaks when you walk on it.  Rather than squeaking like a mouse or a wheel, the squeak sounds like a flock of nightingales or seagulls crying in the distance.  The squeaky floor was purposefully built to help prevent any surprise attacks by the shogun’s enemies.

Back on the bus, we rode across town to the Kiyomizu Temple.  We climbed a long hill with souvenir shops tempting us on either side all along the way.  We promised the kids more shopping if we could stay focused all the way to the top.  We made it, along with seemingly half the tourist population in Japan!  It was crowded!  We did see all we were there to see.  We were surprised to come across a live violin-piano performance – initially it seemed a little incongruent at a Buddhist temple -- but the music was so beautiful that it no longer seemed incongruent at all.  We tried to take the Lover’s Walk between two stones (you start at one stone, close your eyes, then try to walk to the other stone about 15 yards away).  If you make it, you will supposedly find the love of your life.  It was way too crowded and no one made it successfully, so you might need to provide some counseling to your child in a few years!

Back down the hill we went, darting in and out of the shops all along the way.  Nearly everyone bought something, but again, it seemed most of the things were for friends and family members back home.  Some even bought gifts for other Junor Wingers!  You all have very considerate children!  We made it to our bus stop with enough time to spare to buy mochi out of wooden boxes from a very kind grandmother at her shop that must have been selling mochi to temple visitors for generation upon generation.

Our 20-minute bus ride to Kyoto Station was a nose-to-armpit experience.  The bus was very crowded (at least for those of us up front).  We made it to the station with no problem and we were happy to find our platform was just inside the wicket.  We couldn’t have missed it if we had tried!

We’re now on the train and our 8-month journey to Nanao will be complete in twenty minutes!