Friday, 7 March 2008

Tokyo 1

The guide book said 'balmy'.
Balmy? It's freezing here! About the same as the UK. Great for polar bears but not so great for 2 travellers with backpacks full of t-shirts!

Anyway, 'Konichiwa' from Tokyo.
Arrived here on Thurs 6th March after a 10 hour flight from Sydney and a 3 hour train/underground journey from the airport to our hotel. It took us 10 mins to work out how to buy a train ticket. Strangely- everything here is written in Japanese!
Hotel- lovely.
After an afternoon power nap we ventured out for dinner. Found a great Japanese restaurant. We weren't quite sure what we were ordering from the menu but the waiter helped us out and we managed to eat with chopsticks without injuring anyone. Brilliant.

A great day.
First of all we made our way on the train to Ueno and Ueno Park- a huge park housing the zoo, various museums and an array of temples and shrines.
We decided to hire a paddle boat and go out onto the Shinobazu Lake. Great fun.
Found a nice cafe to have a coffee/hot choc. Here we also giggled at using the ultra-modern toilets with heated seats!
We then got the train to Asakusa to visit the Sensi-Jo Temple.
Beautiful.
Infront of the temple we fanned ourselves with the smoke from the large incense cauldron which is said to bestow good health. We also had our fortunes told. Interesting....
We then walked around the markets where we could have spent our entire budget!

I got up early on Saturday and went for a short run. After breakfast we got the train to Kichijoji and then walked to Inokashira Park. Weather cold but sunny.
We walked around the park and enjoyed our lunch overlooking the lake. Lovely. Some of the cherry blossom trees were just coming into bloom. They are so pretty.
We then got the train back to Tokyo and walked through the very trendy shopping district of Ginza.
A good day.


L & R x

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