The parents from OKC to Kyoto!

Dec 29th on.... We woke up to snow outside. We got ready and went down to Okayama to visit the gardens, castle and do a little shopping. We first went to the gardens only after mom warmed up in every hut along the way. It was chilly outside, and I think she had more clothes on than me. Look at these two love birds in one of the top three gardens in Japan. There were still flowers blooming in the cold. I wish I could read to know the name and see if they exist in Iowa.

A cool like bridge in the gardens.
We found out that mom cannot keep her eyes open in any of the pictures. We tried to get her to look the other way and it still didn't work.
Mom with the Okayama castle. Pretty tall from this angle.

I introduced them to the 100 yen store. I thought mom would have gone crazy, but she was tame.

My snowmand, me and my dad outside my house. Yes, I did a recylcing project and made him one of my many free nights before Christmas.

We got home that night and had yakiniku on my little grill. We packed up all of the good and mom and dad passed out like good little travellers.
Dec 30th. We woke up to have coffee with Naomi at her house and her friend Setsuko. We got lunch included. They drove us down to the train station. I don't know who liked riding the shinkansen more, them or me. I think it was ME! We arrived at the station under an hour. We hopped one the sightseeing bus to get to the hotel. That was a mistake since it was sooo sooo full, but to our luck most got off 3 bus stops before ours. Thank goodness or we would have had to take out some Japanese with all of the luggage. I can see it now. "Three tourists crush patrons trying to get off a sightseeing bus with too much luggage." We checked in and had a few hours before the sun was to go down. We were off to see Nanzen-ji. The best thing about that was the aquaduct. By the time we got done awing that, the temple was closed. That was alright because we walked around the grounds which were free.

Mom and dad under the enterance I think. A tall enterance.

Dec 31st we woke up to a sicky dad. We left him rest since he didn't get much sleep. Mom and I ventured out and found that things were closed at 9AM in the morning. So we went for really expensive filter coffee, chatted, and warmed up a bit. Unfortunately we didn't have our coffee here at the white lover. But you can find that smiling white lover in Iowa.

We found this little shrine thing when we took a "detour" to the shopping street. We paid to write our wish on a piece of paper and glue it to this mushroom thing. We saw some people before us crawl through the hole, so what did my mom do, she crawled through it, too.

We ventured into the shopping district and got my mom some material so she can sew some Japanese things with it. We checked out Nishiki fish market, which was packed with people from all angles. We went back to check on Dad. He told us to keep on shopping and sightseeing. So we went to Sanjusangendo. It was the coolest sightseeing place I have seen so far. It was amazing to see the 1001 Buddha diety statues. We couldn't take pictures in the building, so I got these off the internet. The pictures don't do it justice. You have to see it for yourself. I don't know why it is my favorite spot for temples and shrines and such.

For the New Years Eve celebration, it was told to us by our waiter to go to the Chioin-in at 8:40 to get in line to see the biggest bell in Japan. They start ringing it at 10:40. They ring it 108 times for all of the sins you accumulate over the year. We met up with some other English teachers that were very loud and could tell they were American from along ways away. We chatted and decided we were cold and tried to go back down to the warming hut and was told we had to use the exit and could not get back in even though we were only 20 feet from the bell. So climbing our way down the hill we thought we could sneak back into the area where the warming hut was and was told again we had to exit, as if there were an admission taken. We trodded our way down like little kids getting their hands slapped in the candy dish. We warmed up in a souveneir shop and by the time we got back out there to try and climb up the steep steep stairs to the bell again, the wind and air was sooo cold we scooted back to the hotel for an onsen. (scooted, not a walk and not a run, a japanese scoot). My mom is addicted to onsen. Too bad they aren't in the US. Oh we were in bed by 11:30 on New Years Eve.

The giant bell!

Jan 1st! Happy Birthday to me. I woke up with a migraine, maybe the gods from above were punishing me for being older. We got around to the Silver temple, (Ginkakuji) and then the Golden Temple (Kinkakuji). The silver temple does not have any silver on it, but it did make up with wonderful gardens. I don't know if I would have enough patience to rake the sand into the perfection.

Not a very picturesque temple, but it will do.

I wonder if hellions break in at night and tromp through it. I would laugh to see the monks faces when they see footsteps in their gardens.

Jan 2nd, We woke up to hurry down to Kiomizudera to see the last of the the sights of Kyoto. We didn't have anymore time.

We hurried back to our taxis we ordered. I got in my taxi and mom and dad got in theirs. We had too much stuff. My snowboard bag and all of their bags. We started off early just incase we got into traffic, which we did. Mom was freaking out and it was a good things I planned for it. We took the express train to the airport. We arrived at Kansai Airport with time to spare. We said our goodbyes, cried a few tears, and said we will see each other in August. But if they want to come back, they can. And if anyone else wants to venture over this way, do so!