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A few interesting spots in Tokyo
Because it's been very difficult to find coin laundries anywhere nearby, I washed a bunch of clothes in the sink last night. O, the glamorous life. I'm hoping they'll be dry enough to pack tomorrow morning.
This morning, after getting up and transferring the wet clothes from hanging around the bathtub to the closet, I took my breakfast coupon and went in seek of food. The excellent buffet restaurant had a very long line, and the Japanese restaurant had a shorter but still noticeable one, so I went to the food court, which had both Japanese and Western food. I got miso soup, two different kinds of fish, shu-mai, noodles, rice, and a glass of what I think was guava juice. All good, but I may try to get up earlier and try for the buffet restaurant tomorrow.
After breakfast, it was time to get on the bus and hit the high spots of Tokyo. First we went to the Meiji Shrine, which was built to venerate the Meiji Emperor after his death. He's the one who was restored to power after the Shogunate fell. Our guide told us he was important because he decided to open Japan to the West. That's not the way I heard the story, but I suppose I can't blame her for trying to make things sound nicer than they were.
The shrine is in a lovely, large, wooded park. I took many pictures of trees, and torii (shinto shrine gates), and buildings, so I'll see how they come out when I get home. It was nice to be among the trees, because even around 9:30 it was pretty hot, and it only got hotter as the day went on.
On our way back to the bus, we all noticed that the symbol on the front of it looked like a Starfleet symbol, so many people took pictures. I forgot to, so I'll have to hope we have the same bus tomorrow.
Next was the Imperial Palace. On the way there, someone asked about the river/canal that we were driving along, which had a nice bank of trees on the opposite side. That turned out to be the outer moat. We parked along with a bunch of other tour buses, walked past a statue of a samurai who guards the palace or something (very nice--hopefully the pictures came out), and then on to a wide open area where we could look at a gate. Our guide implied that there's generally no entry to the Palace; however, I found a site where the Imperial Household Agency arranges tours. They're all in Japanese, so I don't blame the travel agency for not doing it, but it's ingenous to imply that it would have been impossible.
In general, our guide was not very good at getting people to stop taking pictues and move on, which gave us some scheduling problems. I wish she had been, because it would have been nice to have less standing around in the sun with no shade--I may need to buy an umbrella to use as a parasol. Our next stop was supposed to be the Asakusa Kannon shrine, then walk through a shopping arcade on our way to the restaurant where we'd eat lunch. Since we were running late, we did the shopping, then lunch, then the shrine.
Lunch started out with the usual pickles and some kind of cooked vegetables. Then there was miso soup, and bowls of some sort of cooked yellow stuff that the waitress told me was chawan mushi, which is a steamed egg custard with various things in it--in this case, shrimp and bits of vegetables. Then we were all served plates of tempura--shrimp, two different kinds of fish, and a couple of vegetables. I would have been happier with more vegetables. I would also have been happier with less soggy tempura--I got some in Yokohama that was served on a clever little wire grid to keep it from getting soggy, so I know that the technology exists. Dessert was a refreshing peach ice.
We then went to the temple. I was finding it hard to concentrate by this time because it was so very hot, so I don't remember much of what our guide said. There are more pictures.
That was it for today's tour. On the way back to the hotel our guide discussed setup for tomorrow--becasue we'll be taking the Shinkansen the day after tomorrow, and there's not a lot of room for luggage on it, we're having our big suitcases sent to Kyoto tomorrow. That means that they have to be outside our rooms at 7:15 am for pickup. Also, we have to be on our bus at 8.
I went out into the local area after we got back, and found a Starbucks, and a department store with a basement food court that provided some tasty yakitori for dinner, and a coconut tapioca thing for dessert. I also got a packaged coffee for tomorrow morning--if I hate it, I can always get something else at breakfast.
Tomorrow we go to look at Mount Fuji. I don't know what the internet situation will be like for the next few days, but I'll update again when I can. I'm getting tired of this keyboard's betrayal, so I'll sign off now. (I just typed this whole thing for the second time when the first time through went into some kind of weird wide Unicode thing that I couldn't get it out of, and now the keyboard has gone into a mode where it keeps trying to turn my typing into hiragana.) They don't have the English language mode installed on this machine, which makes life difficult.
This morning, after getting up and transferring the wet clothes from hanging around the bathtub to the closet, I took my breakfast coupon and went in seek of food. The excellent buffet restaurant had a very long line, and the Japanese restaurant had a shorter but still noticeable one, so I went to the food court, which had both Japanese and Western food. I got miso soup, two different kinds of fish, shu-mai, noodles, rice, and a glass of what I think was guava juice. All good, but I may try to get up earlier and try for the buffet restaurant tomorrow.
After breakfast, it was time to get on the bus and hit the high spots of Tokyo. First we went to the Meiji Shrine, which was built to venerate the Meiji Emperor after his death. He's the one who was restored to power after the Shogunate fell. Our guide told us he was important because he decided to open Japan to the West. That's not the way I heard the story, but I suppose I can't blame her for trying to make things sound nicer than they were.
The shrine is in a lovely, large, wooded park. I took many pictures of trees, and torii (shinto shrine gates), and buildings, so I'll see how they come out when I get home. It was nice to be among the trees, because even around 9:30 it was pretty hot, and it only got hotter as the day went on.
On our way back to the bus, we all noticed that the symbol on the front of it looked like a Starfleet symbol, so many people took pictures. I forgot to, so I'll have to hope we have the same bus tomorrow.
Next was the Imperial Palace. On the way there, someone asked about the river/canal that we were driving along, which had a nice bank of trees on the opposite side. That turned out to be the outer moat. We parked along with a bunch of other tour buses, walked past a statue of a samurai who guards the palace or something (very nice--hopefully the pictures came out), and then on to a wide open area where we could look at a gate. Our guide implied that there's generally no entry to the Palace; however, I found a site where the Imperial Household Agency arranges tours. They're all in Japanese, so I don't blame the travel agency for not doing it, but it's ingenous to imply that it would have been impossible.
In general, our guide was not very good at getting people to stop taking pictues and move on, which gave us some scheduling problems. I wish she had been, because it would have been nice to have less standing around in the sun with no shade--I may need to buy an umbrella to use as a parasol. Our next stop was supposed to be the Asakusa Kannon shrine, then walk through a shopping arcade on our way to the restaurant where we'd eat lunch. Since we were running late, we did the shopping, then lunch, then the shrine.
Lunch started out with the usual pickles and some kind of cooked vegetables. Then there was miso soup, and bowls of some sort of cooked yellow stuff that the waitress told me was chawan mushi, which is a steamed egg custard with various things in it--in this case, shrimp and bits of vegetables. Then we were all served plates of tempura--shrimp, two different kinds of fish, and a couple of vegetables. I would have been happier with more vegetables. I would also have been happier with less soggy tempura--I got some in Yokohama that was served on a clever little wire grid to keep it from getting soggy, so I know that the technology exists. Dessert was a refreshing peach ice.
We then went to the temple. I was finding it hard to concentrate by this time because it was so very hot, so I don't remember much of what our guide said. There are more pictures.
That was it for today's tour. On the way back to the hotel our guide discussed setup for tomorrow--becasue we'll be taking the Shinkansen the day after tomorrow, and there's not a lot of room for luggage on it, we're having our big suitcases sent to Kyoto tomorrow. That means that they have to be outside our rooms at 7:15 am for pickup. Also, we have to be on our bus at 8.
I went out into the local area after we got back, and found a Starbucks, and a department store with a basement food court that provided some tasty yakitori for dinner, and a coconut tapioca thing for dessert. I also got a packaged coffee for tomorrow morning--if I hate it, I can always get something else at breakfast.
Tomorrow we go to look at Mount Fuji. I don't know what the internet situation will be like for the next few days, but I'll update again when I can. I'm getting tired of this keyboard's betrayal, so I'll sign off now. (I just typed this whole thing for the second time when the first time through went into some kind of weird wide Unicode thing that I couldn't get it out of, and now the keyboard has gone into a mode where it keeps trying to turn my typing into hiragana.) They don't have the English language mode installed on this machine, which makes life difficult.