We had a slow morning. Emi woke up early and we unsuccessfully tried putting her down again, and by the time we were ready to go again she was ready for a nap. After Emi's nap, we went and grabbed some gyuudon (beef and onion rice bowl) and brought it back to the cafeteria area at the hotel.
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| Sukiya and Arufo-to |
After lunch we took a taxi to Ginkakuji (Silver Pavilion). I learned about both the ginkakuji and kinkakuji (Gold Pavilion) in my Japanese Culture class, and how oftentimes Americans prefer the kinkakuji to the ginkakuji while Japanese prefer the opposite. The kinkakuji is more flashy and the ginkakuji blends in more with nature and is wabisabi.
Despite Ginkakuji having "silver" in the name, it's not silver..it's made out of wood. I forgot to warn Marty of that little fact haha so he was a little surprised when he first saw it. However, we both ended up loving the site and the beautiful area surrounding it. It might be my favorite place we've seen so far!
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| Marty at the Ginkakuji |
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| Family pic at the Ginkakuji |
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| Wabisabi |
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| Love this picture! You can see the beautiful gardens behind them. |
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| There was a little trail that gave you a different view of the temple. You can see it poking out on Marty's right. |
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| Isn't it so beautiful?! |
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| Marty and Em. |
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| Loved the views |
On our way up to the temple, I saw these delicious looking strawberries on shishkabobs at a little shop and the junior high students crowding around. On the way down, Marty and I stopped for shishkabobs. Unfortunately, the strawberries I saw were an unfinished product. The ones they ended up giving us were dipped them in a corn-syrup like substance that had hardened. Not quite the delicious fresh strawberries I was hoping for, but still fun to try.
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| Marty took one for the team and helped me finish my strawberries. If you zoom in you can see our attempts to take off the corn syrup shell. |
Then we taxi-d over to Heian Shrine to see the gardens there. Marty and the taxi driver talked back and forth. I loved just getting to be there and witness the conversation taking place and understanding what was going on, but not feeling pressure to contribute. Marty's Japanese is still great!
The gardens were beautiful. I was glad Gessel Sensei told us to go to the gardens, or else we would have just seen the shrine and moved on to something else because the entrance was tucked away. My favorite part of the gardens were the ponds with lily pads. At one part we got to go across the water on little stepping stones...so fun!
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| This place made me think of Monet's paintings. Marty said he was inspired by Japanese gardens. |
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| These flowers (Irises I think?) made me think of my mom! |
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| Fun stepping stones next to the lily pads |
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| This bridge was fun to walk across. |
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| Found this cool thing on our way back home. |
We headed back to the hotel for a bit, and then decided on going to Indo Curry for dinner. Marty scouted out the different places on Google Maps, and found a place that looked authentic. We wanted the real stuff! We walked to this hole-in-the-wall restaurant and when we entered the restaurant it was empty except for one person and the workers. The workers were not Japanese (a very good sign), and it seemed like it'd be authentic from the vibe.
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| Walking into the restaurant |
I had come prepared at the restaurant this time with a bib for Emi and Ritz Crackers so that Marty and I could enjoy a meal together. Sadly, a calm meal was not in the cards for us as Emi ended up choking (like actually choking) on the crackers twice. For the rest of the meal she was a bit traumatized from choking and from being smacked on the back to get the crackers out of her throat. This made for an angry loud baby. Marty and I ended up just switching off holding her as the other person got to enjoy the food. We were grateful the restaurant was empty and for the nice workers.
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Indo Curry! The curry was amazing. The cheese nan was a bit sweeter than I remembered, but I think it may just be this restaurant.
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| Emi and Dad pre-choking |
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| It got chilly on our way home so Emi got to be all wrapped up! |
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