Today was set aside for travel to Kyoto. However, it turns out that the shinkansen from Osaka to Kyoto takes about 14 minutes so, really, the day was wide open.

(Random photos of one of the trains to USJ) :

We checked out of our hotel and left our suitcases there. Decided to go out to Universal City and have a look around (it’s a sort of shopping centre outside Universal Studios). Got a frozen yoghurt and did some people-watching (a lot of Japanese people dress up – in costume – to go to USJ).

Had some conveyer belt sushi for lunch, at Maeve’s particular request.

Then we headed for Shin-Osaka station to catch the shinkansen to Kyoto. And, about 3 seconds later, we were there.

I have to say that right away Kyoto felt different. Different to both Osaka and Tokyo. More calm, slower, less crowded, more peaceful. It’s interesting – there are a couple of very wide, busy, commercial streets (with big names like Gucci and Zara) but then you turn off those streets and just a block back the streets are narrow and quiet, and there are some old, beautiful houses with immaculate street frontages. It’s just lovely.

For our first night (only) in Kyoto we booked in to stay in traditional Japanese accommodation.

We were welcomed with tea and a traditional treat:

And this is what our room looked like:

We decided to go to dinner at a place called Shishin Samurai Restaurant. It has gluten-free options and they will also prepare a number of the other dishes gluten-free on request. The restaurant itself is in a house that is over a hundred years old and the food options are themed around traditional samurai fare (well, some of them are). The food was wonderful but we were so focussed on eating it that we didn’t get any photos! Here’s Corwin’s ninja ice-cream though:

Maeve chose the kids meal:

It was multi-layered and the bottom layer was full of treats:

Unfortunately, while we did ask them to do the kids meal gluten-free, it seems that they forgot to apply that to the pre-packaged treats in the bottom. And we didn’t check the ingredients. She was glutened, I’m afraid, though thankfully it was only a small amount. She was very uncomfortable after the meal but was really brave. We’ll be more careful in future.

Gave her a bath when we got back to the accommodation and she was fine after an hour or so.

Tomorrow we move to another hotel. Not sure what else we’re doing yet.