Nijo Castle

We visited Nijo Castle on our second day in Kyoto, amid choruses of "Kawaii!" Nijo castle is very, very big. The sign outside said to allow an hour - but if you visit the castle with an adorable child and a throng of potential admirers, allow two hours. We had the good fortune to visit the castle while seven or eight school groups visited the castle. Locutus was on form, flashing his winning smile and charming the girls.

Fortunately, Nijo castle has several large gravel areas where our son could run and play. Mostly, he spent the time picking up rocks in one area of the castle and moving them to another area of the castle, whilst posing for pictures when a group of school girls passed by.

Eventually we were able to coax our son onto the rest of the tour. Nijo castle consists of the castle itself, which was really more of a sprawling palace with many rooms, each gorgeously painted to inspire envy in visiting dignitaries. The floors were the infamous 'nightingale' floors, designed to chirp when stepped upon and alert the castle staff to intruders.

After touring the castle, we moved onto the gardens and the palace. The palace, sadly, was not open to visitors. But the gardens surrounding the palace were quite lovely. Locutus spent an hour or more playing in the drain channels, attempting to climb the fences, and banging his head on the low hanging beams beneath the elevated decks. Successes all around.

The deep drain channels

Elevated deck that was mostly just above Locutus' head height

 

We climbed the stairs to a viewing platform that displayed the grounds and the myriad of autumn colours. We joined a flock of kimono clad school girls. We snapped photos of the castle foundations and bamboo garden. We were invited to a tea party but decided delicate china wasn't the best fit for our son. And afterwards we bought umeshu in the lobby. 

We'll chalk this adventure up as a success.