BIKES!! FREEDOM!!

 Monday, March 2nd dawned partially cloudy, but there was enough blue sky for us to know that today we would be able to get out and about without getting soaked.  Our first order of business for the day was trying obtain some rental bikes.

Kyoto was Japan's capital and the emperor's residence from 794-1868.  Over the centuries, parts of it were destroyed by many wars and fires; however, due to its tremendous historic value, it was dropped from the list of target cities for the atomic bomb and spared from air raids during World War II.  Countless wonderful temples, shrines and other historically priceless structures have survived in this city and we were anxious to begin exploring some of them!

Even though it has a much smaller feel than Tokyo (Tokyo's population is 13.5 million and Kyoto's is a mere 1.5 million), getting around Kyoto to see the sites is a little difficult if one relies solely on public transportation.  For this reason, we really, really wanted to rent bikes.

That is easier said than done, however.  Most rental places didn't have the number of bikes that we needed in the sizes that we needed them.  One place didn't have any bikes with baby carriers, another wouldn't rent to anyone under 12 years of age.  Trying to reserve bikes for our large family--which includes small children--became just another example of how large families just don't fit in in Japan.

We finally found a place that had all the bikes we needed, didn't care about the ages of our kids, and had baby carriers.  Yay! 

Raymond had Nathan and Kirstin on his bike, and Audra was my "special friend" and rode with me on my bike. 

 The three youngest loved riding on the bikes!  Audra kept saying, "Weeee!  This is amazing!  Go faster!"  The four oldest thought it was great fun to ride bikes again!  They miss their bikes in storage back in the states!

Riding bikes is THE WAY to see Kyoto!  We had the bikes for three days....and we LOVED it!  It was so fun to ride bikes as a family.  It also gave us a sense of independence and freedom that we haven't experienced since we said good-bye to our vehicles in America.  We are grateful for public transportation, but it is annoying, expensive, and difficult to get our large family around using the public system.

Biking around on the streets of Kyoto also allowed us to see more of the city itself.  Using metros, we are zooming around town under the ground.  We loved being able to see Kyoto the city instead of just Kyoto's tourist sites.  And, it's always fun to occasionally see familiar things from America, like a McDonald's!