Ed, as usual, had breakfast
while Barb got ready.
First we went to a Buddhist
Temple that on the outside showed an Indian influence and then on the inside it
was all Japanese. It was very peaceful
and a lot of people were worshiping there.
Then it was off to the gigantic Tsukiji
fish market. If you wanted to see the
Tuna auction that goes on every day, you had to be one of the first 60 in line
at 5:00am. That was a little too early
for us, so we missed that auction.
But we did experience one of the
largest markets we have ever been to. It
also seemed like every other stall was a restaurant as well as a wholesaler of
fish products. There also were a few
other vendors there but mostly they were fish vendors.
We ate samples at a lot of the
booths and also purchased food as we worked our way through the stalls.
We ate tuna, calamari, squid, a
root vegetable and then what Ed liked the best was a seaweed wrapped item made
up of rice and vegetables or some type of seafood. It was really good and he had a couple of
different types.
Then we took the subway to the
Tokyo Tower, the largest free standing broadcasting tower in the world. The highest we could go was to the 450 meter
level, which is 1,476 feet tall. The
elevator in the tower went up 115 stories in 50 seconds – that’s fast! Had we know how long it would take we might
not have gone up the tower, but we did.
It probably took us 1 ½ hours just to get to the window to purchase the
tickets. Then you took an elevator to
the 350 meter level and then purchased another ticket and another elevator to
get to the 450 meter level. On a clear
day, you could see Mt. Fuji; however, it was not clear today.
Next we were back on the subway
going across town to see one of the famous Shinto shrines, the Meiji Jingu
Shrine. The souls of an Emperor and Empress
are enshrined here. The gourds are
massive and have approximately 100,000 trees along with some beautiful ponds
and walkways. It was a very peaceful
place to be.
By then it was 5:30pm so we took
the subway back to the hotel for a nap.
After an hour nap, we took the subway to a major shopping, food and
entertainment area when we walked around a lot and then had dinner.
All we know for sure was that
both dishes were very good. One was very
spicy; however, we finished both of them.
Then it was time to go back to
the hotel for the evening.
Tomorrow we have the morning in
Tokyo and then we take a shuttle bus to the airport and WE ARE COMING HOME!!
If we get a chance, we will
write about tomorrow; however, if we don’t it will be because we ran out of
time.
It has been a wonderful trip and
can’t wait to be home.
Night from Tokyo.
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| Toilet seat controls |
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| Rice, other things and seaweed |
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| Going for a walk at the Shrine |
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| Part of the gardens at the Shrine |
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| Snack time |
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| Dinner tonight |
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| Shopping area where we ate dinner |
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| The alter at the Shrine |
