Day 25 - Kyoto With Monkeys - July 19

 Japan is hot

According to the linked news article Japan was having some of the warmest weather on record while we were there. Lucky us. For some reason I’m not affected by the heat. It doesn’t change my mood, it doesn’t slow me down. I’m still climbing mountain peaks. 

The rest of my family? Not so much. Sometimes within a few minutes of getting out the mood sours and motivation dwindles. My wife often looks like she is about to pass out from heat stroke. Keep in mind the humidity is always above 90% as well, so you are always feeling a bit wet and you can’t sweat to cool yourself down. However, the summer is the only time everyone is off, so it can’t be helped.

Arashiyama Nakaoshitacho

Very picturesque. There are gardens, shrines, and bamboo forest.

Arashiyama Monkey Park Iwatayama

You pay the entrance fee, then you follow a path up to the top of a mountain. The last part wasn't clear to us before we went in. Ava wasn't sure it was going to be worth it. But we are glad we did. Lots of monkeys. And you can feed them with restrictions; only through screen while you are inside a little building and the monkeys are on the outside. The views of Kyoto were great!

Nishiki Market

Street market with tons of food stalls. Also shopping. It seems to go on forever. Even just one of these side streets probably has more shops than our largest mall back home.

Parking

Parking is so tight that they have elevators where you can leave your car. I don't know entirely what goes on behind the scenes but you drive your car into it and it disappears and you get a ticket. When you come back, you give them your ticket and magically your car reapears again. So Don't loose your ticket!

Our Kyoto House

This place was hard to find. It was down a narrow alley on a side street and parking was a pain. And even though it was a full house, it was smaller than some of the apartments we stayed at. But it does give you a feeling for how the locals live.