Dear Elliot, Emmala and Eliza,

Today we are in Kyoto. It is the last city of our visit to Japan. Tomorrow we start our long journey to come to your house and back to our camper. We will be excited to see you!

Today we had an adventure! When we got to Kyoto and got off our our train, we found out that the tour bus that we wanted to ride was not running. We got instructions on how to use the city busses to see the things that we wanted to see and, after placing our suitcases in safe storage place, we took off. However, the instructions we got were not complete and the bus was stopping at places that were not on our map. Before long, we found ourselves far from downtown without a clue as to where we were going. A helpful person gave us instructions on where to get off of the bus, but we still didn't know which bus was the right one to get back on. Finally we just picked a bus and ended up at a beautiful shrine in a peaceful park with a gentle stream flowing through it.

We toured the shrine, waking on the paths and climbing up to a hilltop where there was a good view of the city. We drank some of the water that we had brought with us. We looked at the people who were enjoying a day off at the shrine.



It was a very hot day and we found a place where children were playing in the water and having a good time. Their laughter put us in a good mood. We found a bus that was going back to the train station and got on. It took it quite a while - about one hour - but it did take us back to the train station. We had gotten lost, but nothing bad happened. We got to see a beautiful place. We got to see children playing and having a good time. And we got back and found our hotel safely. It was a big adventure, but it worked out just right.

We will try to get a good night's sleep tonight and be ready for the big adventure of coming to your home tomorrow!