Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Crazy Trip to Kyoto

I decided I was going to make a day trip to Kyoto. Its just a 40 minute ride on the bullet train and is very tourist and English friendly. It turned out to be a harder trip then I thought it would be.

Leah woke up with a leg pain. She complains of leg pain quite often, especially when she is asked to clean her room. So I just figured that she slept on it funny and that when we started going that her pain would go away. We walked slowly and stopped when she needed to. The pain never went away, it did lessen as the day went on, but she walked slowly all day.


We get to Nagoya Station, get our train tickets, and get on a train. I use candy to keep Teddy quiet and occupied during the trip. We get to Kyoto Station without to much trouble. Charlette has to pee as soon as we get there. We head down off the platform and search for a bathroom. We end up finding a family bathroom and I take advantage of it and change the boys diapers as well. Leah claims to not need to "go", but about 10 minutes later she has to pee too, and Charlette magically needs to go again. So we head to another bathroom. I send the girls in by themselves and I wait for them outside. There was a line and not much space to get the stroller in and out.

Our next stop is Starbucks. I have been collecting the Japan Cities Starbucks cups and wanted to get the Kyoto cup while we were there. I get an ice coffee and I buy a vanilla bean frap for each girl. We sit and enjoy our drinks for a little while and then head out to find some lunch. What happens next? Leah needs to pee again! Its been less then an hour since we got off the train. We don't find anywhere to eat that has enough space for all of us and isn't super fancy. So we set off to find the bus info and tickets. Then Charlette has to pee again!

We find the bus info and get a day pass, which costs about the same as 2 bus trips, which we would need anyways. Bus fare is set to 230 and we would be taking a bus there and back that would have been 460, so 500 wasn't much more to pay.

We find our bus and get on. It was a long trip to Kinkakui Temple, the golden temple, about 45 min. Both girls end up falling asleep. I have Charlette next to me and what happens? She pees in her sleep and it gets on the seat and on me. I use one of the baby's blankets to try to collect some of the moisture. I didn't bring extra clothes for her or me, we both walk around with pee for the rest of the trip. It was great that it was hot and our clothes dried pretty quick.

After we get off the bus, Leah has to go again! So we head to the closest convenient store in hopes that they have a public restroom. They do! Leah and Charlette both use the restroom and I grab some food for lunch. The girls each pick their own when they get out. Both end up picking out different kinds of sushi rolls. I get a cold noodles bento and an onigiri for Teddy. We sit out side on park benches and eat lunch. Leah only eats rice in sweet soy things and I eat Teddy's onigiri and help Charlette finish the rolls she got. Then its off to the temple.

Its about 0.2 kms to the temple from the store. We take an ally way up, instead of the "normal" way. We come out closer to the parking lot and walk through it to get to the entrance. The whole place is very peace full and was very pretty. It would have been nice to be shogun and retire to this golden house. Its 400 yen to get in(the kids are free) and as we go in they ask if I can carry the stroller, because there are stairs. The temple is very pretty and Leah asks "why can we go inside?". The doors of the temple that open to the pond on the lowest level are open and show the beautiful painted wall/doors and classical Japanese interior.

The grounds are very pretty and remarkable peaceful. We make it to the first set of stairs. They are long stairs and I try to make then up by angling the stroller and "walking" it up the stairs. This proves to be to strenuous for the stroller and I have to carry it, to the surprise of the people around me. I get to the top and find that people(who we discover are Chinese tourists) are taking our photo, they don't ask either! Its the first time that I have had anyone openly acknowledge me when I have carried the stroller up or down stairs. There are 3 other sets of stairs that I have to carry the stroller.

At the end of the temple route we stop at a bench area and have a drink. While we are sitting there we are surrounded by the Chinese tourists who were taking our photos when I carried the stroller. They are amazed that I have 4 children and that they are all close in age. Most are amazed and all of them wanted to see Barnabas and take pictures of the girls and Teddy. It was kinda nice having people excited that I have had 4 children. I feel like most of the Japanese don't like that I have 4 children. I liked that the Chinese were loud and just butted into my life, a nice relief from the quiet, reserved Japanese.

We head back to the bus stop and then to the bullet train. Things are just about the same as the trip getting to the temple. I don't think I will be taking anymore long day trips like that with the four kids all by myself. It was a lot harder then I was hoping and I was getting really annoyed with all the kids by the time we got back to Nagoya. I am glad that I went and I am glad that I accomplished everything I had set out to do today. It would have been great if the girls didn't need to pee so much(or pee on me, super thankful that it didn't smell bad) and if people had asked to take a pictures. Thanks God for a nice trip and for our safe travels!

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