While Dad, Max, and Albert traveled to Hiroshima, Mom and I (Dakota) had an amazing day in Kyoto! The theme was all things green, try to guess why!

We started our day with Hyatt breakfast before finding the train station. Here we are very proud to figure out how to buy tickets on our own:

The clean train dropped us off in the center of town where the Nishiki market is nestled. This street market was filled with all kinds of deserts, fried foods, Japanese street cuisine, and souvenirs. It was like nothing we had seen before. Everywhere we turned there was a new and intriguing snack or item. Of course, we started our tour with matcha ice cream!

Today was not the day I was going to try sea urchin… but I couldn’t say no to chocolate matcha strawberries!

After wandering a bit more, we found the 2D BAW (black and white) Cafe! I knew this cafe was in Japan but I didn’t realize it was in Kyoto, so the experience was a delightful surprise! I’ll let the pictures do the explaining…

On top of the awesome interior, this place had amazing food! We ordered a matcha croffle! (Croissant waffle)

After choosing to step back into the “crowdy real world,” we found the famous cucumber! It was a tasty snack that tasted like it was not quite a cucumber anymore, but also not yet a pickle. It was a very refreshing and non sugary break in our snacking!

We couldn’t leave Japan without buying something from a capsule machine! We chose to get Astrid a panda!

My favorite YouTuber, Ashely Alexander, is also a matcha fanatic and she raved about how much she loved the Maccha House. So of course we had to go! And it did not let us down!! I had my favorite Uji-cha latte and matcha tiramasu!

After our stop here, we decided we were matchaed out (if that’s even possible).

But our Green Day was not quite done yet because we left Kyoto and headed for Arashiyama to see the Bamboo Forest!

On our walk from the train station to the forest, we passed a beautiful lake with row boats and people wearing kimonos. We loved the break from the bustling city life with the serene views of the Japanese mountains and sparkling lake.

We finally made it through the old town to the forest and were immediately struck by how tall the bamboo was. They were so tall that they imposed a feeling of hushed reverence on the hundreds of people walking along the path.

On our walk we also saw huge water lilies that reminded us of the Monets we saw in Paris.

Having seen enough green for a lifetime, we found the bus and traveled 25 stops to our hotel!

Today was one of my favorite days of the trip. No matter where I am in the world, I will always love getting matcha with my Mama!

For more about our trip and day to day updates, follow my travel instagram! @kotatheexplorer 🤍