The big thing the day before the trip was Sasha getting her nails done. She has to keep her nails super-short for fiddle playing, so the week before we left we let them grow and then on Friday we fiddled for the last time and then went and got her nails professionally done. She was in HEAVEN!
We had to get up at 4:30 am to make it to Gimhae airport in Busan by 6:30 for our 8am flight. The funniest thing was when I went to wake up the kids they were sound asleep and I expected them to be all drowsy and sluggish like they usually are when I have to wake them up. Instead when I quietly whispered "Who's ready to go on vacation?" Teddy shot to his feet on his bed and yelled "MEEEE!!" with his hand in the air. I almost fell over laughing.
We figured out the long-term parking thing and took the shuttle to the airport. Hooray!
They had Polish food in the terminal I guess....
We got to Tokyo at 10am, cleared customs and immigration, changed money and made our 10:50 shuttle bus to the hotel. Checked in, had time for a bathroom break, and had about a 10 minute walk to the place where our afternoon tour would pick us up. Got there with 5 minuted to spare. Hardly sporting!
The cherry blossoms were in full bloom. Here's a shot of Tokyo Tower, which is the tallest building in Tokyo and the first stop on our tour.
Tokyo doesn't really have a lot of tall buildings. It's a massive city, but it's a horizontally massive city, not a vertically massive city. Tokyo tower isn't even all that tall but it's still the tallest building. It would be dwarfed in NY, Chicago, or even Houston. Here is a temple with flowering cherry trees all around it:
It's Urban sprawl in all directions, as far as your eye can see. What a nightmare!
The tower had these glass panels in the floor so you could look down to the street. The kids loved this!
Next stop. The Imperial Palace. You can only go in on 2 days of the year because the Emperor still lives there. So we got to look at the walls, moat and gates only.
Part of the palace:
A special gate used only for Shoguns or Samurai or something. Can't remember which.
Then we went to a Shinto Shrine. On the way we passed these Rickshaw guys. They have phat legs just like mine! Guess I missed my calling...
5 story Pagoda.
5 Story Pagoda with cherry blossoms:
There are these incense areas as you enter the shrine. People waft smoke all over themselves. Teddy got really close to one and he smelled awesome for the rest of the day. We kept fighting over who got to sit next to him on the bus and sniff his sweater....
A big gate:
My 9th circle of hell:
OK, seriously what do I expect in the most populated city IN THE WORLD. I am going to share something with you now that may cost me some friends but so be it. I was in Japan for 1 reason and one reason only folks: Tokyo. Disney.
The only reason we didn't stay at Disney the whole time was that the parks are a nightmare on the weekends. Since we had to do SOMETHING on the weekends we figured we might as well try to be cultured and see the sights.
OK, so anyone still with me after my shameful admission? I know Crispi's still reading so I'll continue....
We totally kicked it old-school and ate on packing crates next to open fire charcoal braziers. No one fell into a fire pot and burned alive and with Sasha at the table that's pretty miraculous. It was still insanely expensive even though we were eating in a back alley with the locals. The food was pretty bad too. One of the things we ordered was chicken meat on a stick we THOUGHT. It was chicken SKIN only all folded and then skewered. I never eat chicken skin with my chicken so I'm going to eat a skewered STICK of chicken skin? Not likely. If I want to kill myself I'll do it with beer and chocolate thank you very much....
We braved the Tokyo subway. It's like the NYC subway with 1,000 more lines. Seriously. It's crazy.
So that's it for day one. More tomorrow.
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