Kyoto

Time to put away the backpacks for a week and chillax in culturally rich Kyoto. Being the former capital for almost a 1000 years, there is too much to explore, from Buddhist temples to Shinto shrines, from Michelin star restaurants to vegetarian Buddhist temple food (both fantastic), from elusive geisha’s to hordes of tourists in kimono’s posing at every spot imaginable, from traditional craft workshops to huge shopping malls, from traditionally hand/machine made cakes to pre-packed ones in supermarkets (again both fantastic) and from perfect, sublime gardens to a chaotically crowded bamboo forest. We managed to do a bit, very slowly paced from our base: a spacious, comfortable, traditional, wooden house.

We started with a fun and light activity, the Ninja & Samurai experience. Milo learned some about the samurai and practised with Ninja weapons, star, claws, blow pipe, dagger and of course the sword.

A nice change of scenery we found in the (bamboo) forest with monkeys, on Omi Maiko Nakahama beach at the Biwa lake and the almost midnight (to avoid the crowds) adventure at Fushimi Inari-Taisha, famous for its (around 10.000!!) torii gates (a bit spooky 👻 but luckily a few likeminded were spotted 😅, see timelapse video for the result).

Some time alone was well spent by both parents. Julia followed a matcha tea workshop and now knows a bit of the ins and outs of making, serving and the story around green tea. I on the other hand started with siphon brewed coffee in the same place as 5,5 yeas ago, followed by an oishii (delicious) Kaiseki lunch (Japanese haute cuisine) accompanied by pairing sakes and looking for (and in the end found) a proper Japanese knife.

Of course, a Kyoto trip is not complete without a nice bike ride. Difference with the previous time: E-bikes and kid seats. We took the Philosopher’s Path and recuperated at a temple with a proper Shojin ryori lunch (vegetarian buddhist meal).

Fantastic week!Read more