The Quinn Family Excellent Adventure: Goodbye Hiroshima Japan - Hello Kyoto Japan - March 29

The route from Hiroshima to Kyoto was all Shinkansen. It was super fast and nice. It was also cool as now with our JR Passes we simply walk through the station entry with a human. No tickets required. Just show your pass getting in and out of the stations. Cool eh. After arriving in Kyoto, we decided to take a taxi to our guest house. It was a bit of a walk from the train to the taxi stand. At the taxi stand, there were two pretty huge lines. One was for tourist taxi's whose driver spoke basic English. The other was for regular Japanese only speakers. We could have done either but chose the tourist taxi. We had to wait for about 20 minutes but it was worth it. Our driver struggled with the directions we gave him but once we indicated Oyama Kyoto Guest house, he knew exactly where to go. We were not 10 seconds out of the taxi when the owner and her staff were helping us with our bags. She hugged us warmly like we were family. Wow. Oyama guest house is huge and insanely clean. Check in was simple and soon we were in our special Kyoto home for a few days. The attention to detail in this guest house is amazing. Despite being 10 years old it does not show it's age. Clean and sparkly everywhere. It was kind of cold though. The interior is not heated, only the rooms. That's what the AC/heater is for lol. The owner visited our room a few times and then heard we were hungry and looking to head out for something. She was so kind as to put together a special meal for us with delivery. She even included a bunch of cooked eggs. So nice. We had a great evening and slept like champs.

I had been bitten by the Shinkansen bug and was researching where to see these things going super fast. According to Google, the tracks were not too far from our guest house. I prepared for a Shinkansen hike that revealed some interesting shots and movies. It was a really nice river walk with flod plains converted to public farmland. Once at the trains bridge, I noticed it's hard to shoot these things at these speeds. You only hear them for 1-2 seconds before they are present. I hope to find a better spot soon. The girls did a cool tea ceremony whilst I walked that day. They learned some experience with the local train. The nearby station kiosks did not offer ticket information in English. They were fortunately assisted with someone on how to get to there destination. Rather than picking the destination, you can simply pick the known price. Same thing really. Good idea.

As a family we planned a trip to the Kyoto Gyoen National Garden. http://www.ilovekyoto.com/places-to-see/kyoto-gyoen-national-garden/ This place was huge. I'm amazed at the quality of the grounds and gardens here. The rivers, streams and ponds are all so clean and full of fish and life. It's such a change from previous countries. Kyoto was a great place to get the rest of our JR Pass reserved seats out of the way. It was also the place I had arranged delivery of our next Sim cards. The Sims cards acquired in Okinawa were soon to expire or be data exhausted. A few cities back I ordered replacement Sims. They were available online only and needed to be delivered or picked up. Kyoto was a good fit timing wise. At the Kyoto station, KT found a goldmine of toy dispensers called Gacha machines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gashapon. While she found change to buy a bunch of items, Michelle and I hunted down the Tour office location to pick up our Sims. Apparently the day earlier another Steve Quinn had picked up Sims from this same counter. He was from UK. Interesting. After a few forms we had our Unlimited data 30 days Sim's in hand. The last and final thing to do at the station was more Shinkansen reserved seats. Fortunately the lineup was reasonable as I worked my way through the list. The girl was impressed with my planning and confirmed HyperDia is the way to go. Everything was bang on with the tickets we requested. Sweet. I could relax even more now.

The guest house personal learned we had only done a few things in Kyoto. He was soon advising us with a laundry list of places to visit. We had only one day. I heard and fell in love with Arashiyama Bamboo Forest. KT and Michelle planned to visit Kyoto tower. The next day we each were off. I'm glad to have walked. The route is beautiful and a little less crowded than the dozen or so tour buses in the area. The threat of rain finally became true just in time for the Bamboo Forest. It drove the crowds away which is sweet. I got updates from KT and Michelle about their trip expanding to Nara Park to check out the local deer. The small tourist town of Arashiyama had the cutest homemade wallet/purse spot. I was tired of pockets of change and snooped around for a good fit. These were custom made in Japan which is what I'd rather spend my money on. The one I chose is tiny but still holds alot. Kinda pricey at 1800 Yen but hey it's custom crafted in Japan. After departing the store and escaping the tourist trap, I was soon on my way back home as the skies cleared for more beautiful photos. The girls were hours away from coming home so I simply grabbed a bite and packed up. We were heading to Tokyo tomorrow, cool.

I noticed what looked like an electrical coupling on this Shinkansen train