Monday morning, we checked out of the BOQ, returned the rental car and headed out in a taxi to the train station. Mary loved the taxi ride. We took an express train to Hiroshima (15 min) and then transferred to the bullet train to Tokyo. Mary was so excited about the trains, though she didn't realize that even though it was called a bullet train, it would still take us 4 hours to get to our destination. Two hours into the trip and she announced that she was "done." Good thing Doug took her for walks and finally, she fell asleep. When we arrived in Tokyo, we had to transfer to a local commuter train to get us within walking distance to the hotel. It was quite a challenge. Doug had Mary strapped to his chest, had his laptop slung over his shoulder and was pulling the big suitcase that had the stroller bungeed on the outside. I had Mary's car seat strapped to my back like a backpack and was pulling the smaller suitcase with my humongous purse on top. The station was huge and confusing...not to mention crowded. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed, but we eventually made it. When we got to our final stop, there was a lady that stopped me. She had to be in her mid 40's and she kept gesturing to my belly and my suitcase. It took me a while but I finally figured out what she wanted. She grabbed my suitcase and carried it up 3 flights of stairs. There wasn't an elevator. How nice was that? Then we were walking down the street to the hotel (approx 1 1/2 blocks) and a nice lady was following us. She spoke English and said she worked at the hotel we were going to and she ended up taking my suitcase and pulled for me. I guess I looked beat. I was. Thank goodness the hotel had a great pool. I wasn't in the mood to tour.
Ueno Zoo was on top of the list of places to go. I had heard from an acquaintance here that it was THE place to go. What a great zoo! It was huge. We didn't get to see everything, but it was definitely worth the trip. They even had a petting zoo for the kids. Unfortunately, the only thing to pet was a bunch of goats and unfortunately, Mary still seems to like to touch her lips A LOT. Wow, never noticed that before. After what seemed like the billionth time we told her "don't touch your mouth!" we high-tailed it out of there to the hand washing station where we scrubbed for a good long time. Probably won't do another petting zoo for a long time, but look at the joy on her face. It was worth it.
Tokyo Tower was built in 1958 and it's 1,093 feet tall. Even though it was based on the Eiffel Tower in Paris, this one is taller. The main observation room is at 492 feet. We didn't pay extra to go any higher. There were some beautiful views of Tokyo. Hey, guess what? It looks like a big city. They had a couple areas of those Plexiglas floors so you can see all the way down. Usually, they make me kinda dizzy. Wasn't sure how Mary would react, but she had no fear. People thought it was pretty cute. It's a good thing, since she was hogging the view. I'm including a shot of my 27 week belly looking down. I feel huge.
Our last big site was the Senso-ji Temple. It originated with a shrine to the Buddhist goddess of mercy in AD 628 and a then a temple was built in 645. The majority of the buildings didn't survive WWII bombings, but were rebuilt to follow the Edo-era layout.
This is Kaminarimon Gate "thunder gate". It burned down in 1865 and was rebuilt in 1960.
Nakamise-dori is a street filled with shops and food vendors. We tried a little fried dough thing with Japanese apricot inside. Mary didn't want to share. There is also a picture of a 5 story pagoda that was built in 1973.
Hozo-mon gate. this was at the entrance to the main hall. It was built in 1964.
Inside the main hall is a gold plated shrine where people come to pay their respects by throwing coins and lighting candles.
So, it took 4 parts, but I think I've finally reached a conclusion to our vacation. I hope you have enjoyed reading about our little adventure as much as we enjoyed doing it. I'm glad we were finally able to take some time to see a part of our host country.
1 comment:
Wish you had time to write books. Your descriptions are fantastic!
In reference to your belly, you can still see your feet in the one photo and in the one of the three of you outside the gate, I say you look great, not huge!
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