Friday, November 9, 2012

Tokyo arrival

You're absolutely correct. Pass me my bottle of sake and I'll get this story started...

Our stay in Tokyo was surprisingly excellent. Tokyo is not our favorite city in Japan, but the hotel we stayed at did its best attempt to win us over. The bellhop went out of his way to explain everything in English, and even went back downstairs to the lobby to pick up a children's bath set for Locutus.

We woke up quite early on our first morning in Tokyo. Locutus declined his socks and shoes and so we put him in the baby carrier for our errands.

We exchanged our vouchers for our rail passes, then sauntered over to the Imperial Gardens for a stroll. The gardens are several city blocks of immaculately groomed grass and Japanese pines, with a wide gravel path to traverse. The Imperial palace itself is off limits, but the outer grounds were turned into a very pleasant park. The notable landmarks were a statue, a bridge, and rows and rows of Japanese pines.





The sky was sunny and clear, the temperature too warm for a jacket. The paths were filled with people on their way to work. We both remarked what a tough commute that would be. The park has several running courses set out. And at the hub where all these courses connected, there was a giant stone monolith with a clock for runners to monitor their times.




 
 


We arrived back at the station around the time most stores were opening up.

Since we were all still adjusting to the time change, we decided to forgo visiting the Meiji Jinja shrine and park complex and instead travel to Kyoto while Locutus napped. The ride was uneventful, aside from the half dozen Japanese that had to come over and compliment our beautiful son.

Upon arrival, we wandered Kyoto a while on foot while Locutus napped in the carrier. I was heartened to see throngs of school children carrying their English dialogue books! Tomorrow, we shall ambush the ambushers! We will be in Kyoto for a few days, seeing a mix of old and new sights.

We eventually settled on a hotel, grabbed some dinner, and retired to the hotel room to relax and adjust our internal clocks to local time.

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