Tokyo to Kyoto

In Tokyo we visited the East Garden of the Imperial Palace, Shinto Shrines, Buddhist Temples, and the city itself. It was so fun to see the amazement in the boys faces and their eyes shining as they took it all in.

On Sunday we had a tour scheduled for Mt Fuji. Sunday morning we woke up to a very cloudy sky and some rain. We were also checking out of Tokyo and moving onto Kyoto by train after the tour up Mt. Fuji. This was the funniest day. The tour was great fun but it was so cloudy you couldn't see a thing. By the time we got part of the way up the mountain we were in the mists. I am sure it is a beautiful tour when their isn't rain. You had to see it to believe it. It was so humid and so wet. But the drive to the mountain was amazingly beautiful. Our only regret was that we couldn't stop to take pictures of the tiered rice farms and countryside. We decided someday we will have to come back to actually see Mt. Fuji and take those pictures, rain or not!

The rest of the trip we were in Kyoto Japan. It was nice to have a home base and a city that dates back to 1100 AD is a great place to do it. Kyoto used to be the capital city of Japan for many dynasties so their are many castles, shrines, and temples to visit. Right outside our hotel door was a Shinto shrine that was amazingly large. I can't even begin to describe this city. The pictures that follow will have to do it for me....

Kyoto was also where our trip took an interesting turn of events. Jaron had his passport, rail pass, and a little money stolen off the tour bus on one of our tours. He was so disappointed. If this is going to happen anywhere, Japan is the only place. First stop the police station... Second Stop.... The United States Consulate in Osaka Japan.... Third stop, get a new picture taken at a local camera shop... Fourth Stop, United States Consulate.... Wait many hours, last stop, United States Consulate to pick up Jaron's new temporary passport. It didn't turn out to be as big a deal as we expected, just cost a lot of extra money. The rail pass ended up costing us the most as it couldn't be replaced. From that point on in the tour, we were paying cash for Jaron's tickets. Jaron is still sad he lost his original passport because he lost his entrance stamp into the country. He is so funny.