Kamakura With Grandma and Grandpa

Ahhhh.... I'm so behind on posting.  We have been really busy and done so many things I've hardly had a second to sit and blog them.  I'm going to try to do as many posts as I can before Calista wakes up.  She rarely takes a nap in her bed anymore so I feel like this is my one chance to get things done.  

Our first visitors came to see us in Japan.  Grandma and Grandpa Woestman braved the 10+ hour flight to see us, and they even had to book a room in our hotel because we still live in a hotel :(  One day we hoped on a train went up to Kamakura.  Bob and I went recently so it was kind of fun to show them around.  Living in Japan I almost always feel like I don't know what is going on.  So we need people who know even less than me to come visit us so I can feel knowledgeable about Japan.

After visiting the main temple we walked down a crowded street with tons of shops and even more people.  How did this guy get all those sunglasses to stay on?

We stopped and had okonomiyaki for lunch.  It was a small little restaurant the first one we went to where we had to take off our shoes.  They had these little cubbies with slippers inside.  You put on their slippers and replace them with your shoes.  I wonder if anyone ever walks out with the slippers on.  Probably just the American tourists.

Next stop, big Buddah.  We tried to go here once back in 2011 but it was shut down so we were happy to finally make it.  Man it was big.

We each paid 20 cents to walk around the inside.  It was very crowded in there and had one tiny staircase that people were both squeezing up and down on at the same time.  I'm sure it never would have passed fire code in America.

We went on a Japanese holiday so it was even more crowded than usual.

Last stop was the Hase Dera temple.  Kamakura has many many temples and shrines to visit you really have to just pick a couple and go for it.

This one was pretty neat.

These litlle guys are darling.

So many statues.

We even went into a cave.

This next part made me a bit nervous.

There was a line and we couldn't really back out (that's the part that scares me)  but we made it through.  It looped around and wasn't very long.  There was one point where the line slowed down and we were just stuck there for a minute.  It was though.

I had to take a picture of this guy.

The kids saw their first rock garden.

This last picture is obviously back at the hotel.

It was a long and fun day.  I think everyone was tired out of walking by the time we got back.