KYOTO

 Kyoto has been high on my travel list ever since we got to Okinawa. Particularly I wanted to visit in the fall and see the beautiful fall colors against the old city. We planned a family trip for Thanksgiving, but Duke got stuck in Maylasia or something so I postponed the trip a week and ended up going by myself with Lucy. It turned out to still be a great trip and I'm so glad I went. We had 2 full days in Kyoto. These pictures are of our first day-Tenryuji Temple, Arashiyama Bamboo Grove and the Golden Pavilion. I'll put our full itinerary at the bottom.

 These pictures are from the grounds around Tenryu-ji Temple. Those Japanese Maples are just so gorgeous!

I carried Lucy everywhere in the ergo and gave her little breaks to just sit and play. I wouldn't recommend strollers for this city, but I did see some in this area. I think it would just be inconvenient and a pain.

Arashiyama Bamboo Grove

 View of the area from where we lunched. I loved the beautiful hills.

 Lucy did so well on this trip. I don't claim to be an expert, but my advice to parents everywhere-if your kid has one bad flight or trip, don't let that scare you from trying again. I feel like the more I travel with Lucy the less scared I am. At this point I'd be fine traveling anywhere in the world with her by myself..which means I've come a long way! I had one absolutely terrible flight with her almost a year ago, but it has gotten so much better. (Although my husband does not share these feelings of bringing her everywhere..for the record lol)

 Togetsukyo Bridge

 Taxi ride!

 Entrance to the Golden Pavilion. I was obsessed with the colors bc we don't get fall in Okinawa!

 It was so surreal to see this in person after seeing it on so many desktops for so long haha. But seriously I was in awe of the beauty and the tranquility of the building and lake even though I was surrounded by so many tourists I could barely move.

Day1: Fly to Osaka, stay in Airbnb (totally recommend for osaka/kyoto)
Day 2: Train to Kyoto, bus to Tenryuji Temple, Arashiyama Bamboo Grove, taxi to Golden Pavillion (Kinkaku-ji)
Day 3: bus to Kiyomizu-dera Temple, taxi to Daigoji Temple, metro to Fushimi-Inari-Taisha Shrine, Gion area, long walk back to Airbnb.
Day 4: train to osaka airport and home!