So we arrived at the "Dormy Inn Express" and after taking a hot bath, it was time to head out for dinner. We were in such a great mood, we had to celebrate by finishing off the "white sake" that we had brought from Takayama. (Actually the stuff is perishable so we had to drink it, but it was delicious anyway!)



Afterward we went to the front desk and asked for directions to the nearest curry restaurant....well that didn't work out so well. Everyone was hungry but the clerks were all rushing around and discussing in Japanese and they kept saying "just a minute" and we didn't want to be rude, so we waited while Benna whined and even Aleeza worried that she might die of starvation. Eventually they gave us a map and directions for a taxi to drive us like fifteen minutes to an Indian place, or we could walk down the street to a nearby "family restaurant." That sounded pretty good so we walked along the boulevard of neon and traffic, and found it without a problem. The interior was very familiar looking and there were signs everywhere in English, so we were very surprised to find that the heavy plastic-coated menu was totally in Japanese. It turns out it is basically a "theme" restaurant, and the theme is "American family style." The food and everything else was Japanese!



Aleeza had Rice and Miso soup, Benna had French Fries - but with Mayonaise, Japanese style! (Later we asked for plain Ketchup and they brought it happily.) I had a Korean dish - Kimchee Udon, it was OK but by now I am pretty spoiled with the delicious mountain noodle dishes we have been treated to over the past few weeks.



Today was the special day of fun we had planned for the kids and ourselves, for the last day of our travels. The place we went to is called "Nagashima Spaland" and I didn't take a lot of pictures because we were too busy having fun. Here is Aleeza in front of some of the rides.


The amusement park had about eight roller coasters of different sizes, including the "White Cyclone" which is one of the longest wooden coasters in the world, and the Steel Dragon which is one of the tallest and fastest coasters in the world. (Aleeza and I rode both of those!)

There were of course a million other rides, including the "BobKart," which was a cool motorized alpine-slide type of ride that I have never seen before and may never see again because I think it is unique.

Then there was the water park, which was a thing to behold. There were two "lazy river" rides, about ten slide towers with multiple tubes, making a total of around fifty individual slides. The kiddie "splash park" itself was worth the trip, but it was only a small corner of the water park! There was a large indoor splash park too that we never even went to! We stayed until the place closed at 6pm and they kicked us out. But we still hadn't visited even half the water attractions!

What a day. We then had to catch a bus, then two trains, and we finally dragged ourselves through Kyoto Station at nearly ten o'clock and got into a taxi. Then the stress came to a head when it became clear that the driver couldn't make sense of the address we had given him! He drove us to a nearby place we described to him and we got out. The kids were tired and hungry and incredulous that the driver "couldn't find the apartment" but they can't understand that in Japan there are no "street addresses" like back home. They were about to cry, so I asked a clerk at a corner store for help, and he pointed me to the building next door which was a "police box." The officer inside cheerfully showed me a map, and it turned out we were only two streets away from the apartment.

Now we are at the apartment where we will stay for the remainder of our time in Japan. It was an amazing three weeks of travel. I will probably not blog as much now that we are staying out, but I'll try to put some stories and pictures about life in Kyoto a few times a week at least.

Peace y'all!

- Aaron