Dear Chibi,

Lots of sightseeing in the beautiful city of Kyoto <3

We had to visit at least one castle this trip, and we end up checking out Nijo-jo Castle. It was surrounded by stone walls and moats.

Karamon Gate, entrance to the main palace.

Ninomaru Palace, the residence and office of the shogun. As we wandered around inside we couldn’t help but feel like we were inside a TV drama set XD.

Outside of the Ninomaru Palace is a large, traditional Japanese garden with a big pond. The garden is so well landscaped and maintained. All the free open space meant lots of space for P-chan to explore.

Next up we visited a nearby Buddhist temple “Shinsen-en Garden” which was within walking distance from the castle. It’s apparently the oldest existing garden in Kyoto :O

Away from the crowds, we enjoyed a quiet evening admiring the views and interacting with the resident ducks and feeding the carps.

..and pigeons.

Wandering around in search for food, we end up passing a children’s playground, which is very rare to see! So of course we made a stop so P-chan can have a play. These playgrounds look exactly like how they’re depicted in anime XD

P-chan enjoying a fuji apple. Fresh fruit is pretty expensive in Japan so we rarely bought any on the trip. Seriously, we saw a small bag of grapes selling for 6600 yen?? O_O There was also a sign next to it saying “Good price” XD

We end up finding delicious okonomiyaki for dinner. mmm! So good!!

Japan 2024: Arashiyama, Monkey Park, Bamboo Grove