Kyoto (day 1)

After yesterday, we were all ready for a leisurely day. We started at a temple called Ginkakuji, which has a beautiful, perfectly manicured garden. We saw many gardeners on their hands and knees carefully trimming the plants and sweeping the grass…

Giant gravel sculpture.

We then took a walk (suggested by the Kyoto tourist center) down a little canal lined by flowering trees and Japanese maples (we love Japanese maples) and with many beautiful gardens and temples along the way. The houses all had pretty little window boxes and tons of tiny flowers as well. Riley walked much of the way, often right on the edge of the canal, and pointed out all the flowers and dogs that we passed.

Japanese maple!

It was a perfect sunny day and we were all relaxed… until Riley threw her sippy cup in the water! (followed by “Uh ohhh” and finger pointing down to the canal. Luckily the banks weren’t too steep and the water was pretty shallow, so I went on a retrieval mission. (Michael called just before and said “Happy Birthday!” to which I replied, “Riley through her sippy cup in the river! Gotta call you back!)

Fresh hot chestnuts!

There isn’t much of a subway in Kyoto, so we took buses, which is more complicated with Riley and the stroller (even though the new stroller we got for the trip folds up pretty small). I always think we create a commotion, but people don’t seem to mind (there’s the ever present chorus of “Kawaiii!” and “cute-o!” for Riley). When we got off the bus this morning the driver gave Riley a present! A little green robot guy, which made a very nice addition to the little toy bag (along with the hello kitty dressed in a deer costume that we got in Nara). Riley seems to like it, especially because the arms move.

In the afternoon we split off from Brad and George (I think they needed a baby break) and just wandered around. We took the subway back to the hotel during rush hour, and Riley got another present! She was pointing at the little stuffed animals hanging off of a woman’s bag and saying, “dog! dog!” which the lady seemed to find pretty entertaining. So she dug around in her bag, and just before we got off she gave Riley a little tiny pen with a dog and string attached to it. Riley carried it by the string and swung it around the whole way home (stopping a few times to readjust her grip).

Click here for more pictures of day 1 in Kyoto and a video of the sippy cup retrieval mission.