Shijōdōri

Honey. I think we broke the kids.

We stumbled into our lovely hotel, thrilled to find beds; however, grumbling tummies drove us up and out to find lunch.

Of course, sushi is where we landed, although Noah, by his own admission, is starting to get over the whole "fish and rice" thing. We were all dragging our feet, disappointed that we didn't pack our bathers in our day bags (the hotel has a pool), and we couldn't find any to buy that would accommodate.

A spot of opportunistic op-shopping lifted the mood enough to convince the kids to quickly look at the Fushimi Inari Shrine, home of the thousand o-torii gates. At Fushimi, Inari people started donating funds to construct torii gates along the paths from the main shrine's buildings to the top of Mount Inari, to bless their businesses.

It was so very hectic. Think music festival, shoulder-to-shoulder busy. The sheer volume of people you need to navigate through is one of the aspects of urban Japan that is a downside. People move respectfully and patiently, although it's a massive fray on your senses. And the poor kids were so cooked. 🥺 Noah tripped over a traffic cone, Stella had retreated into her headphones and even I had to admit, as surreal as it was, the 'Tism got the better of us. So, after a few photos and a short walk, we were hailing a taxi back to our cool, quiet hotel. Realising when we got back here, you can rent swimsuits. Double doh.

Noah didn't move once he kicked off his shoes and collapsed on the bed, and Stella was too tired to swim. Heck, even Paul was too tired to sauna. So, the scheduled Geisha hunt is replaced with room service, a long bath and tucking into a good book.

Tomorrow, we are forgoing a castle viewing to sleep in and swim in the pool before checking out.

Steps to date: 126,000 (approx 98-100km)
The distance from Yallingup to Australind.
Holy shit. No wonder we are knackered.Read more