We started off the day with breakfast at a place called boul'ange pâtisserie café. They had a delicious selection of pastries. We got 4 items to share including a quiche and almond croissant.
After breakfast we went to the Tokyo National Museum. We walked around the park and then found the very long line to enter the museum. It was almost around the block when we got in it, but thankfully it moved very quickly and we only spent like 15-20 minutes in it.
Out front of the National Museum
There is also a nature and science museum nearby
Entrance to the museum was quite cheap: I think we paid less than $10 total and I got a student discount! We first entered Honkan, the main gallery and national treasure gallery. They have an app to download that guides you through the museum called Tohaku Navi. You can download it if you want and click through some of the things we saw!
After that exhibit we went to the Gallery of Hōryū Treasures. We again used the app to guide us and give us information about different things in the gallery. While we were there they had an exhibit that is only shown three times a year for conservation reasons. It was a room of masks made from wood or lacquer that were used in the performance of gigaku. I really recommend downloading the app and reading about the masks, it gives a short 2 minute clip that's interesting (gallery 3 in the gallery of Horyuji section).
After spending nearly 4 hours in the museums, we decided we should get some lunch. I found this really cool app that suggests good local places near your current location so we opened it and found a place nearby called Miyatake. It was located in a food mall so there were many options to chose from, but we stayed with our original choice. Hunter had tempura shrimp, rice, and noodles while I had a curry tempura chicken noodles. Both were delicious and it was only ¥1900 which is about 17 USD.
After lunch we walked around the area a bit and got drinks at a 7-11 as we were both feeling dehydrated. We then decided to go back to the hotel for a nap with Hunter's alarm set this time to ensure we woke up.
Well it happened again (laughing). We slept for 4 hours instead of two, waking up at 8pm. Hunter's alarm appears to have been shut off but who knows. Nonetheless we quickly got up and headed to Shibuya. Shibuya is where the famous crazy crosswalk is located. It also has a good nightlife.
The empty crosswalk
The very full crosswalk
After exploring a bit, we decided to hit up a McDonald's. Unfortunately, they didn't have much of an English menu and so we just pointed at pictures and hoped for the best. Hunter ordered the iconic Big Mac and I ordered a random value burger that turned out to be pork. It was very different but tasty. We also got chicken nuggets to share because they were on sale.
After eating we headed back to the hotel for the night preparing for tomorrow, our last planned day in Tokyo.
DAY 2: May 4th, 2019
We woke up bright and early around 5am, well I woke up and then woke Hunter up. We slowly got ready for our day and headed to Tsukiji Outer Market, a very popular fish market. It's a huge complex with street vendors selling food and other goods (plates and teapots were popular). Hunter and I tried lots of food as we were trying to get rid of all the coins we accumulated.
After the market, we walked to Hamarikyu Gardens. Usually it costs about $5 to enter but today was greenery day, so it was free. In the park they have a 300 year old pine that was pretty cool looking. We also could see planes taking off from Haneda airport and we saw two ferry boats.
Giant, possibly aloe, plant
When we were done resting in the park, we headed to GinzaSix, a very high end shopping mall with a beautiful garden terrace at the top. Enjoying the view from the 14th floor, we tried to find a place to eat. This building was very high end and too expensive for us, so we looked for somewhere cheaper. Hunter found this place called Lion he wanted to look at so we started walking there but came across a massive 12 floor Uniqlo. We had to stop and look around!
Cool building we saw on our way to the mall
Giant Uniqlo
After shopping, we walked back to the train station to drop our new purchases at the hotel and rest our feet. We also saw a cool steam train at the station.
Fun fact, all elevators in Japan are required to have an emergency box in them with water and other supplies
When we headed back out we went to Akihabara, the area known for gaming. It was very busy. Hunter wanted to go to this place that looked like it had model trains. It was on the 9th floor of a building with no windows. The only way to get there was on escalators. People constantly flowed into the building and we wondered how safe it was with the amount of people going up each floor.
Next we wanted to go to Sensō-ji where there is a Buddhist Temple. We had to first find a train station which was about 20 minutes away, but down a cool street with lots to see. We finally came across what I wanted to see, claw machine arcades! We went into a few and watched some people play but we decided to save our money and not play. I think the key for the machines is not to try and win on the first try, but to strategically move the item towards the hole.
When we finally got to the train station, it was a nice rest on my feet as we had so far done over 20000 steps. When we walked out of the station near Sensō-ji we were welcomed by a massive covered street market. It was pretty cool. It seemed like we walked forever down the crowded street, but we finally found the Temple. It was pretty right at sunset. We walked around more and were both getting pretty tired. We decided to head back to the hotel. It was only 7pm when we got back and I was ready to sleep! I was so tired and ready to sleep but knew if I slept now I would be up way too early. I ended up making it till about 8:30pm and then I was out. We did walk 25016 steps (12 miles).
DAY 3: May 5th, 2019
Today we were supposed to do a day trip to Mt. Fuji, but the weather called for 70% cloud cover meaning we wouldn't have the best view of the mountain. After discussing it, we decided we shouldn't go, saving about $400. We want to go when we can have a good view, so maybe another trip!
Instead we tried to sleep in, but still woke up at 7am. I worked on my research stuff for a couple hours and we headed out at 9am in search for a donut place Hunter found. When we found it, it appeared to be closed which was sad, but luckily before we left I suggested we get almond croissants, so we did have some food before!
We continued to walk around and came across some shopping. There was this massive Gap store that we looked inside as there was a 50% off sale, but we didn't end up buying anything. We then saw a big building called Tokyu Plaza and wanted to check it out. We had to wait about 10 minutes for it to open, but while waiting saw the city preparing for a giant parade. Today was Children's Day, marking the end of the Golden Week.
The Plaza was 13 stories tall and had a beautiful rooftop terrace. We sat for a while and enjoyed the view. We also investigated where to have lunch. Most of this massive mall type building have food halls (or courts as we call them) that take up entire floors. This building had about 3 floors that were completely food vendors. Thankfully they had a pamphlet with a guide to all the food, so we looked up online the reviews of some of the ones we thought we might like to try. we eventually decided on a burger place called Bareburger. We didn't know till after but they apparently have a few US locations too. We took our order to go and ate on the terrace. While we were eating they started the parade which was nice to see. We also got to see the new and old emperor, well as best we could from the 13th floor.
View of Ginza Six from Tokyu Plaza
The parade street blocked off
View from the other side of the terrace. You can kind of see the Imperial Palace in the trees.
Once we were done we headed to the Sea Life Park Aquarium. It was located out on some of the man built islands. We also could see sea walls that are supposed to help when a tsunami hits. We didn't know it at the time, but apparently, there was an earthquake yesterday. We found out because there was an announcement in the building we had dinner in about what to do if there is a tsunami. Anyways the aquarium was really cool and well worth the ¥700 (≈$6.5) entrance fee. Here are all the aquarium pictures!
A type of angle fish
A flat fish. do you know their eyes migrate to the top side after birth?
A snack! It was an ice cream sandwich but it was like encased in a cone rather than two cookies.
These guys jump around on the rocks with little suction cups under them. I thought they were dying at first
After the aquarium, we went back to our hotel and rested while trying to determine what to have for dinner and our plan for tomorrow as tonight was our last night at the hotel. We decided to go look at this department store near our hotel (department stores in Japan have some of the best eats). We found a Mexican place called El Borracho. We both got chicken burrito type things. It was very good. We returned to our hotel and began looking into going to the Skytree, the tallest building in Japan. We were both tired and decided to not go tonight, but go in the morning with the hopes of being able to see Mt. Fuji!
What a delight to be able to share this fabulous trip. Love it! Thank you very, very much. Mary
ReplyDeleteLove the aquarium pictures!
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