Kyoto Day 2

I can't help but post a ton of pictures for each day of this trip. When I look through, it seems like there are so many for each day, and then I realize it's partly because we did SO much each day. We learned the ins and outs of the Kyoto public transportation system but also did a ton of walking! Day 2 started at the golden pavilion, which really was a pretty amazing building, and coated with real gold! The crane on the rock in front of it was just an added bonus coupled with perfect timing for our pictures!

 After our walk around this area, we stopped for some soft serve (like I mentioned in the previous post, it became a bit of a staple in our diet this week :)

 Next we headed over to Ryoan-ji (rock garden)...we had heard good things about it and were close by so decided to check it out. The grounds around it were gorgeous, full of cherry blossoms and other fun foliage. The rock garden itself I was very underwhelmed by, but I was glad we made the trip, just because of how beautiful the grounds were!

Rowan was a champion traveler. Besides the fact that he had a little bit of difficulty going to bed at night (because there was nowhere to put him away from us in our tiny little hotel room and mom and dad are way too much fun so why would he want to go to sleep?...he did amazingly well during our long day trips. He napped in the stroller, ate his meals on the go, and was happy all day long. Traveling with a kid is definitely not easy, but he made it doable for sure!

 After getting on a bus going the opposite direction of where we were planning, we decided that we would spend the afternoon in Arashiyama (which was an area we were planning on going to, but had thought about doing it another day). However, it turned out perfectly and I'm so glad we got on the wrong bus :) We walked around for awhile through some fun streets...

 (check out this guy in his snake skin JACKET!)

 Walked through this beautiful bamboo forest...

...changed diapers wherever we could find a little spot...

...and then headed over to see some monkeys! Rowan is finally getting old enough to have an interest in animals, etc., and I won't lie, I was pretty excited to see some monkeys too. It was a good little hike to the top, but so much fun once we got up there.

There were monkeys all over the place and a great view of the city. There were even several baby monkeys which were adorable, but too busy playing to get any really good pictures of them...

 Feeding them was definitely one of the highlights. For 100 yen ($1) you could buy a bag of apples or peanuts and feed the monkeys. We went inside the little building and they climbed on the fence on the outside. We held the apple in the palm of our hands and the monkey grabbed it right up. We both thought it was pretty cool :)

 There was a little park at the end and Rowan enjoyed the swings and teeter-totter before heading down to enjoy the rest of our evening.

 The rest of the evening we spent enjoying the Arashiyama area, which was gorgeous. It's a little bit more of a rural part of the city and there were blooming trees all over the mountains which looked like a painting and this fun little river that went through the whole area.

 Love this little family of mine and so grateful for the time we spent together on this trip...

We took the bus back to the station, ate some dinner and headed back to the hotel to rest in preparation for the next fun filled day. Day 3...coming soon :)