On Friday we packed up and checked out of our hotel in Kyoto. We headed over to Nijo Castle, near our hotel. This castle has an inner and an outer mote, and two separate palaces. We were allowed to walk through the larger of the two palaces. The size of it was pretty impressive; with 33 rooms and, for those of you familiar with tatami mats, over 800 tatami mats. I thought there were two really cool things about this palace. The first was all of the wall and ceiling paintings. They were very old and the color was fading in a lot of places, but very beautiful Japanese art work. We were not allowed to take any pictures inside the building, so I don't have a picture of what they looked like. The other cool thing was the floors that you walked on. They are called nightingale floors, and were made to squeek when you walk on them. The Shogun and samuri lived in the palace and the floors would warn them of intruders. Of course there were beautiful Japanese gardens surrounding the palace.
By the time we walked around the grounds it was getting hot and, let's be honest, the kids were DONE seeing any more gardens. Shane and I ended up packing Isaac, pushing the stroller with either Cailey or Bryant, and carrying the child who wasn't in the stroller on our back. I had big plans to see one more Temple in Kyoto, but after Nijo we decided that was enough. Instead we went to a park and had a picnic lunch. The kids magically got all of their energy back and had fun playing. After lunch we went to the Kyoto eki, which is new and very modern. We wanted to go see it and get a few omiyage's (souveniers).At about 2:30 pm we left Kyoto and headed for Kobe. Shane spent 6 months of his mission in Kobe. One of the best parts of this trip for us was that we got to stay with Kazuko and Keiji Shimizu while we were in Kobe. When Shane was a missionary in Kobe, they only lived a few doors down from the Shimizu's. The custom in Japan when you move into a new place is to go to your neighbor's home and introduce yourself and take them a gift. So after being transfered to the area, Shane and his companion knocked on the Shimizu's door and the whole family came to the genkan to meet them. This was the beginning of many meetings with the missionaries. Kazuko was baptized and has been a member for 15 years now. She is incredible in every way. She was a wonderful hostess and made us feel like family while we were there. She is a great cook and for me it was so much fun to be in a Japanese home, eating Japanese home cooking and even seeing how they set the table when they eat. This was our meal the first night we arrived:
When I wrote out our daily travel log during the trip, I actually wrote down what she served us for every meal because it was so impressive. I helped her make a few things throughout our stay, so hopefully I will be able to reproduce one of her dishes. Below is a picture of Kazuko with Cailey before our meal. In the background is a display that they put up during May for Boy's Day. It is samurai armor and swords. It is to remind the boys to be strong and courageous. (I hope I got that right for all of you who are a lot more knowledgeable about Japanese culture than I).
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