On June 6th we started our first Japanese trip. We (Seth, Kate, Matt, Chelsae, Reagan, and our friend Justin) took the San'yo Shinkansen train which reaches speed of 190 mph, we traveled 288 miles in 2.5 hours! It was so amazing to see the beautiful country side of Japan during that ride.
After lunch and unloading our backpacks at the hotel, we all started to walk around the city seeing different temples such as Kiyomizu-dera which on top of a very long hill. This temple was beautiful in the views that it gave us of the city and of the detail in the temple.
The group at the entrance of the temple. Reagan was very excited to be out of her stroller and wanted to be in both pictures.
Before getting on the train
Once we arrived, we wasted no time and started search of our hotel and a good restaurant. With Reagan being a sleep we found a wonderful place to eat where they made their own Soba (buckwheat) noodles. We also had our very own room which worked perfectly with Reagan.
The group at the restaurant
Making the soba noodles
After lunch and unloading our backpacks at the hotel, we all started to walk around the city seeing different temples such as Kiyomizu-dera which on top of a very long hill. This temple was beautiful in the views that it gave us of the city and of the detail in the temple.
Seth and I with Kiyomizu-dera and Kyoto in the background
We ended the evening with walking around the river walk and having some of the best sushi any of us have had! The fish was fresh and the rice was just perfect.
The next day Seth, Justin and I started our day early so we could fit everything that we wanted to do in. We took a 30 minute bus ride to the Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion), when walking up to the Golden Pavilion we noticed the groups of Japanese middle school field trip classes! Even though it was crowded it was still a sight to see.
An English class that asked us some questions about Americans and had Justin write a letter about peace. They we all very sweet and excited to be talking to us!
After we left we went to see the Nijo Castle! It was a very beautiful castle with two moats, the outer and the inner moat. Walking around the many different gardens that Nijo had, it was very easy to picture Geisha's walking around with the King. All of the castle building were made with Nightingale floors which make bird noises when walking on them. This prevented the silent walking Samurai's from sneaking upon the king.
Standing by the inner wall of the Nijo Castle
After our visit to the castle we all jumped on the train to go to Hiroshima, which was a very exciting trip!
June 13, 2010 at 7:56 PM
These pictures are great Katie! You look so pretty with your short hair :) the photos with Regan make me laugh, she's too cute.