Continued from Osaka Day 3.

Today is travel day. Kyoto isn’t very far from Osaka, so our plan is to leave close to 11am when we need to check out, get lunch, and then head to Kyoto. This way we won’t have to wait around too long until we can check into our next hotel room.

The kids love watching Craftee Minecraft channel…I don’t get it.

We are leaving, so I need to try to clear out the fridge. Surprisingly, we haven’t been drinking as much or eating as much from our fridge stash this trip. I think traveling with kids just makes us so tired and in less of a party mood. Which is better for our health so that’s good.

Walked to Namba station.

A store that sells only platform shoes.

Super shallow restaurant. You sit with your back right to the walkway behind you and the tiny counter right in front of you.

We’ve acquired an extra piece of luggage full of stuff so far. Everything is heavy.

Original plan was to eat at the station, but we ended up buying food to go. We couldn’t find any restaurants by the Keihan train station line. Oh well.

My lunch. I’ve been gaining a lot of weight on this trip.

single serve soy sauce.

What’s on that top narrow part of the building?

PL is upset that she had to sit next to a stranger. She needs to get over it, especially when the person next to you doesn’t smell bad.

We got to Kyoto, and it’s really hot. All the kids complained about the heavy bags and the heat. It made for a miserable walk to from the station to the hotel, even though it wasn’t really such a long walk.

Our hotel in Kyoto. It’s been a little tough finding viable hotels to fit all 5 of us in Japan. I’ve learned to be a little less picky about location and more picky about the room type since having 3 kids.

Still too early to check in, so we used the luggage storage…except our bags have no locks for the zippers, so someone could in theory open them and dig through them. But hey, at least the backpacks themselves are locked!!

Hotel lobby, it’s all checked in via tablets. I miss the personal touch.

Can’t check in for another two hours, might as well go see something. Come on everyone, let’s go back out in the heat, but this time without our heavy packs.

Bus to take us there, it’ll be almost 50 minutes. But look, it’s air conditioned!

I believe this is the Kyoto City Hall.

Alright, that bus worked out pretty well. It’s just the regular city bus, so wasn’t very crowded. We saw some Kyoto city buses specifically for tourists and those looked pretty crowded. They’ve gotten rid of the original Raku Kyoto sightseeing buses that I’ve used for many many years. Again, Japan’s changed. Think that happened during covid.

Ginkakuji, it’s a must see so might as well get it out of the way today. It’s really not easy to get across town in Kyoto. And it’s hot.

The strap on CL’s hat breaks. She blames me for hurrying her along during a cross walk. Yes child, I didn’t want you to get hit by a car…

The tickets still looks the same.

Misters, but only in this one spot in the beginning.

They’ve converted the walking route to an one way system. I don’t remember it being like this before, but I could be wrong.

Say Gold!!!

Yeah, still looks the same as always.

Fishing pier, I don’t know if I’ve specifically noticed it before.

It’s hot. We are just blazing through these trails.

Looking for the ice cream vending machine that I always remember being around here. Is it still here after all these years?

Boom!!!! It’s still here!!!! They sell a little bit different stuff, but still here baby. Gotta get some for old times sake and for the damn heat waves’ sake. I believe Japan is like 10 degrees hotter than it usually is during this time. We bought jackets and jeans, and haven’t really needed any of our warmer weather clothes at all. Wish it was cooler, but at least it’s not raining as much as expected.

Ice cream makes everything better, except for my waistline.

Alright, been there done that, time to go.

It’s hot, we are tired, we didn’t want to go wait for another bus to take forever. Let’s try Uber and see how that works out in Japan. Only worry is that they may not pick us up due to no carseat for Little KL…we shall see.

No issues at pickup. Had to specify a 6 seater van for us. It actually only saves about 20 minutes out of a normal 47min trip, but it’s at least easier than waiting and potentially standing on a bus.

Ferrari F8. That’s the nicest car I’ve seen so far on this trip. I haven’t been seeing many nice cars, and I’d expected to see a few more.

Yes, checked into our hotel. It’s nice to finally get a home base again. Our last hotel room was HUGE, this one is more normal sized and more normal priced. It’s $345 per night right by Gion district in Kyoto.

One bedroom, where the kids will all sleep.

And adjacent to the dining room is the “living room” which is a tatami room that has two futons for RL and I to sleep.

This will be restrictive, one single toilet for all of us. Two bathrooms would be nice.

Does come with our own washer/dryer unit though. Again…downside is the super long cycles and we’ve also found out that it doesn’t dry too well and it gets overloaded super easily.

Another perk of this hotel is that a FamilyMart is literally on the ground floor of the building. This will be very…convenient.

View from our room. Gion district is a short block away.

Tired, time to relax.

Tired…don’t even feel like drinking so tired.

Yes kids, you can watch some Wakfu after a long day. The heat just takes it all out of us.

Now walking to Gion for dinner.

So cute.

The restaurant we picked is located inside one of the tiny alleys here. As many times as I’ve been to Kyoto, I’ve never been to Gion before. The kids will get to see something completely new, and I’ll get some new experiences out of it as well.

We are here too early, still closed. A lot of places here in Kyoto doesn’t open until like 5pm or 6pm. And here in Gion, it’s either cheap food, or ultra high end food. Feels like there are a lot of tourist traps here…we see tons and tone of tourists here.

It is a pretty cool district with these old Japanese houses though.

Russians? taking photos in kimonos. We would see tons of tourists renting kimonos and taking photos around Gion. I don’t get it…it’s Soooo HOT!!!! But yet, none of them look to be sweating as much as me…

Back at our restaurant of choice, almost open.

We are number 1.

Sake me please.

Sake me again please.

Yes please, this will do.

Supposed to clap this flower.

Then put it into our soy sauce.

Loves his salmon. Despite this restaurant seeming like a tourist trap with English menus and lots of Westerners reviewing it, the food was great and the service was great as well. It was run by a husband and wife team, glad to give them business.

Earlier before we left for dinner, we got a knock on the door. Our hotel staff gave us this note. I had forgotten about this it’s been so long since I booked the room. Our room apparently comes with private basement spa reservation everyday from 5:30 to 7pm. Not the most convenient time, but we’ll take it.

After dinner, RL took the girls to walk around the shops.

I took Little KL to our sauna reservation.

This is legit. One cold plunge, one hot pool, and there’s also a Finnish style sauna. Little KL thought it was the funnest time ever that me and him went to the spa by ourselves. We enjoyed getting into the super hot and super cold water. Then dumping either super hot or super cold water on our bodies with the provided bowls. Good father and son bonding time.

Our overloaded washing/dryer machine. Next load, we’ll need to do tiny loads. Been a long tiring day, time to sleep.

To be continued at Kyoto Day 2.