Kiyomizu Dera, Arashiyama, Yakiniku King

We got up early this morning and Marty and I went to breakfast in peace. haha. We took turns with Emi and it was amazing to sit and enjoy a meal without Emi wreaking havoc.

Me enjoying my furugura in peace

Since we were up early, we decided we'd head out to Kiyomizu dera and then come back to the hotel so Emi could have a nap before going out again. That ended up being one of our best decisions on this trip! The site was practically empty. Marty has been before, and it's usually very crowded, but it felt like we had the place to ourselves. The temple was very beautiful, and I loved that it was on a mountainside. Marty and I both loved the pagodas too.

Being artsy

This is the "easy childbirth" pagoda. Hoping this translates to something for our next baby. Wishing it was an "easy childbirth recovery" pagoda ;)

We asked a cute jr high student to take our picture, and instead of getting the famous temple behind us, he decided to take on an angle to cover up the temple.haha.

Me re-taking the picture.haha

Another attempt to get the temple in the background.

By this point, Marty was done with the pictures.

On our way back home, there were some bikers that passed us. I heard my name, and was surprised to see that one of my BYU Jerusalem friends was calling out my name. What are the odds to run into a friend in Kyoto Japan? So random and fun!

Running into Rachel M in Kyoto

On our way back to the hotel we stopped at a panya san (bread shop) and grabbed American Dogs (corn dogs) and cabbage with goma dressing from the conbini.

Panya San

If you look closely you can see these awesome packets that are filled on one side with ketchup and on the other with mustard. You snap the packet in half, and voila you put on the ketchup and mustard.

After Emi's nap we headed out to Arashiyama to climb monkey mountain and walk through the bamboo forest. This excursion was not one of Gessel Sensei's recommendations but I thought it looked cool in the pictures and wanted to go. Marty had gone with his friends before so he was kind to indulge me. On the way up the mountain we were sweating buckets haha and when we made it to the top I remembered that I'm scared of creatures being around me. I took to hiding behind Marty and this other lady (sorry!) to protect myself from the monkeys.haha. I tried to be the cute mom showing her daughter monkeys but I realized it's just not in my personality to be cute and friendly with monkeys.haha. After a quick trip to monkey mountain we headed to the bamboo forest.

On our way to Arashiyama

The trail up Monkey Mountain

The view from Monkey Mountain

The cute and somewhat scary monkeys

Pretending I'm not scared. haha.

There're some monkeys in the trees.

There were so many tourists at the bamboo forest that it was loud and crowded. It was fun to see but now I can see why it didn't make Gessel Sensei's "must see" list. After living in the countryside of Japan, I've seen a lot of bamboo so it was cool to see but also not an entirely new experience.

Bamboo Forest

Family pic in the bamboo forest

Then we grabbed a cab to Kinkakuji (Gold Pavilion). Emi was struggling to be quiet in the cab and Marty and I were trying to "shush" her the whole ride. Poor girl is just trying to tell us how she's feeling, and her parents are feeling the need to strictly abide by the cultural norms. haha. Sorry Emi!

After we bought our tickets for the Kinkakuji it started to rain a bit. Then as we neared the pavilion just a few minutes later it really started to pour. We were so glad we went though! Marty and I both agreed that this temple was more beautiful than the ginkakuji (I guess we're Americans after all), but I liked the gardens on the ginkakuji and Marty liked the water with the grassy islands on the kinkakuji better. Right as we were leaving the site, the rain cleared up. Which was perfect, because we got to enjoy our niku man (meat bread/dumplings?) before heading home.

Kinkakuji

I had fun styling Emi's hair after the rain.

Marty with niku man. It was hot and so yummy!

In the evening we met up with Thomas for dinner at Yakiniku King. Thomas just got into Tokyo today and was on his way down to Osaka with his friends, but was kind enough to stop and see us and grab dinner in Kyoto. By the time we were seated it was pretty late, and I was being a little bit panicky about Emi's bedtime. When did I turn into such a mom? haha. The meal ended up being so delicious, and we were grateful to have Thomas there to help cook the meat so Marty and I could take turns holding Emi while the other of us ate. Thanks Thomas!