The boys had a teacher inservice today, so we went to Arashiyama again. Of course you recall that this was the location where we saw the cormorant fishing. This time, we were here during the day. Beautiful weather!
Our first destination: Monkey Park!
You climb....
And climb....(If you're lucky, you can pass these cuties coming back down)
And then you climb....
And then you see your first monkey! (These are Nihon Saru, known in English as snow monkeys--they said).
Then you reach the top! And guess what. There are monkeys here.
And then you climb....
And then you see your first monkey! (These are Nihon Saru, known in English as snow monkeys--they said).
But then you need to climb some more...
Then you reach the top! And guess what. There are monkeys here. 
Here, the humans are in the cage and the monkeys are outside. We paid 100 yen for peanuts and apples in here.
Monkeys are almost human aren't they? They pick at each others hair.
We were famished. Max got this:
Alek got this. (Check the soba-filled sushi roll!)
(I am so proud of how well my boys are eating over here.) Hugo, Mom, Dad, and Mum Mum had various combinations of soba and donburi.
They play with their family members.
They keep asking when we can have a snack:
After awhile we climbed back down.
We were famished. Max got this:
Alek got this. (Check the soba-filled sushi roll!)
(I am so proud of how well my boys are eating over here.) Hugo, Mom, Dad, and Mum Mum had various combinations of soba and donburi.After lunch we walked around one of the approximately 1,000,000 temple complexes in Arashiyama. When I was headed for Kyoto the first time, people kept telling me how beautiful it was going to be. So I really thought that it would look like this everywhere.
We also went on a walk through a bamboo forest.
Here's what the forest sounds like when the wind is blowing.
Here's what the forest sounds like when the wind is blowing. 
What? Japan is not perfect? People carve in the trees?
On the way out, you get to see this famous man.
Finally, we had some fabulous gelato. Hugo had chestnut choco chip. I had sakura-mochi. Darrin and Mum Mum had chocolate. Max had coffee. These were also the best cake cones I had ever eaten!
Why is he famous, you ask? This explains it much better than I could:
Finally, we had some fabulous gelato. Hugo had chestnut choco chip. I had sakura-mochi. Darrin and Mum Mum had chocolate. Max had coffee. These were also the best cake cones I had ever eaten! Surprising Breezes East has had a tough week in the Peace department. Maybe I need to put one of these signs in our genkan.
Guess what song goes through my head almost every time I read your blog? "Turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so..."
ReplyDeleteI'll admit, I'm getting semi-obsessed with Japan from all of this.
Oh, and one more thing: May peace prevail on earth. Let's spend a happy. Amen.