Yet more trains (and some lovely scenery)

Big wheels, little boy

Poo in nappy again this morning :0(

Today we headed up to Kyoto on the Shinkansen and then took a local train to Arashiyama. Here we were treated with a magnificent steam engine in the forecourt of a museum - a piano and steam locomotive museum none the less - we never got to the bottom of why steam locos and pianos were in the same museum - although there were more trains and they were more interesting by far, in fact looking back on it I think there was only one piano - and that was an organ - there were lots of busts of composers though - Mozart, Schubert etc.

We got ourselves a quick lunch - the most average meal I've ever had in Japan - microwaved rice with 2 tiny ebis and a smattering of minutely chopped veggies. I suppose it filled a gap but I was disappointed to discover that you can get bad food here.

Sagano Romantic Train

Sagano Romantic Train Man?

We then got a cute little diesel train, the "Sagano Romantic Train", along the valley of the Hozu river - this was a cute tourist train - we were in a carriage with no sides and where you could see underfoot. The scenery was beautiful - steep forested hills with a blue green river at the bottom. Japan is full of scenery like this but it is very difficult trying to access it - mainly because it is so heavily wooded and steep. We all really enjoyed it and were disappointed when it came to an end. Tom worked his charm at the end station though and got another special ticket and was even up for posing with a guard's hat with a guard (I have it on good authority that Bob has worn the same hat!).

Driver Tom

We then walked through rice paddies to get the local train back to the start. We could have got a wooden boat back through the 'rapids' but they looked really tame and it was pretty expensive to do so - getting the JR train back is free!

Once back, Matt took Tom to see a massive model railway. They timed it badly as about 70 kindergarten pupils turned up at the same time. We call them ants - because they are so small and tend to go round in swarms. Matt got talking to one of the teachers, these ants were 4 & 5 and most of them no bigger than Tom. Here, Tom is big for his age (at home, he is small for his age) - a difference from when he was a baby when he was small for his age (Japanese babies tend to be surprisingly fat). Matt and Tom spent a good 30 mins in there - apparently Tom was transfixed by it - they had a couple of shinkansen, plenty of local trains, a building on fire, a temple, a huge engine shed and many many more features including a bridge going over it so you could look down on it and a sky that changed from daytime to nightime. The boys had a good time and I had a lovely half hour sit down by myself.

Too much train spotting for a day

Once Matt finally dragged Tom away from it, we got the local train back to Kyoto and then the Thunderbird to Shin Osaka - the Thunderbird was my favourite train last time we came here and Tom knows it by sight. Tom liked it so much that he promptly fell asleep on me after 10 mins and he stayed asleep as we got off and wondered through Shin Osaka station - including looking in a shop dedicated to Shinkansen goodies. We got Tom a Dr Yellow umbrella here - why?  because we spent all of today and yesterday carrying around a cheap 100 Yen umbrella expecting it to rain (it never did) and today we accidentally left it on Kyoto station. We figured we needed one small enough to put in one of our bags and the Dr Yellow one fitted the bill.

Tom woke up just as we headed for the Shinkansen home, meaning he was a real fidget, so we went straight to the park to play football and then went for dinner at our local fast food outlet - Sukiya - for gyudon - mine came with 3 cheeses on it (thought it worth a go but not really sure it worked) whilst Tom had a special children's meal of curry and rice. The price for the 3 of us - 1,060 Yen. That's £7, who said Japan is expensive?

Today's purchases: A Sagano Romantic Train T-shirt and a Dr Yellow Umbrella

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Arashiyama