[Nyororin]

Originally Posted by samokan

in that case maybe just relax and enjoy a cup of tea on one of the tea houses facing the river in kawaramachi before heading out to suita

Two hours in a tea house is a little long, as I`ve already allotted an hour for having lunch somewhere nice.

namba parks would also be a nice place to hang out for a few hours, if you don't mind going all way to minami in osaka..

Traffic is kind of iffy on that one, but I`ll take a look.

i think there is also a museum in Hankyu sanbangai if you are interested in that

I`ll definitely check on that one. Right now I`m kind of looking at either the 風俗博物館 in Kyoto, or the 大阪くらし今昔館 in Osaka. I assume there is something like that in Kyoto too, but for the life of me I can`t find it.

There are plenty of indoor things to do in Umeda, Osaka. Your son would enjoy the Kiddyland store and the wacky water fountain below it. It is accessible from any of the Osaka stations without going outside, but Hankyu is the closest.

I think it is Shin-Imamiya station (Osaka Loop line) that is in front of the train museum. I think it is a short hop across the street and is a good place to kill a couple hours. I am not sure in Osaka where your wedding is.

We`ll be in 吹田, so not actually into the city-city. Also - we`ll be there by car, so I am kind of iffy at trying to find parking and such downtown. If we were there by train, things would be a bit different. I`ll check into parking, but right by the station seems like it would be a big pain.

I think you mentioned somewhere before that you've done your share of driving in Japan... so you know that there can be sudden traffic that can cause like an hour delay. Also street lights in a city can make things take longer than navigations say they will (wheras in the inaka things take like 1/2 the time or even 1/3 the time). I think you should just take your time driving and get to your destinations early and do something around the area while you wait. It might be boring for your child, but it's probably the safest bet. Taking a break at a cafe is a really good idea though. I've learned t do that when I travel. You can get information from the owners of the cafe that will lead you to some interesting local things that may be a little off the beaten path, too.

If we want to get technical, I have 6 hours. I count one for eating, one for the expressway between Kyoto and Osaka (Driven it countless times - more like 45 minutes at the most)... One just to be safe, and the last one can be spent waiting with other people (the reception itself is from 6, but the hall is open from 5). So when I say I have 2 hours, I really have 2 whole hours of free time. In the end, I`ll probably still have an hour more to wait once I do whatever.
I`m not really interested in entertaining the child - he is content and will live with whatever we do, nor am I worried about driving. I just want to find something better to do with my time than sitting around waiting.

I`d planned to wander around the Kyoto National Museum, but didn`t realize that they were closed for a month, so need something of the same scale to fill the time. The costume museum looks nice, but much much smaller. As I`m a huge history buff, I`d rather spend my time in a museum or the like than taking in the "atmosphere".