Day 3

Wow, we did a lot today. Full itinerary and a 90 degree day.

The day began with an amazing breakfast buffet: lots of incredible stuff! Scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon, chocolate croissants, and even salad and fruit. Great variety.

Then we took a bus ride to the Imperial Palace. It's a beautiful ground area; however, we didn't get to see the actual palace itself. There's a big moat there with a double bridge that's quite notable. So the place was mostly just a brief photo op. One of the interesting things we got to see was the changing of the guard at the Palace. Our local guide told us we were very fortunate to see this because it happens just randomly. We did have time for matcha soft serve ice cream after all this, which was nice.

Afterwards, we headed to the Meiji Shrine. I loved walking through a very woodsy, open air, peaceful area. Seeing the Shrine in the springtime was such a different perspective from seeing it in the winter, when we were last here. We went to one place where many of us bought little trinkets for luck after we walked around the Shrine a bit. One thing that's worth mentioning is that, on our way back to the bus, we all caught a glimpse of the Empress of Japan getting into her car. Apparently, she was at the shrine for an event of some sort, and photographers gathered to catch a view. I saw her as well, but only a brief glimpse. Both of our guides commented that, in all their years, they had never seen her in person before, except for on television. So for us to see both the changing of the guard at the Imperial Palace and the Japanese Empress on the same day was remarkable.

This was followed by a visit to Shibuya. We saw the Shibuya crosswalk--we were told 3,000 people cross at any one time--largest crosswalk in the world. Very citified here, lots of glitzy advertising. We also went to the Pokemon center, which I also quite enjoyed. We got a couple, including one for our friend Rochelle. The only problem we have sometimes (and we had this here in Shibuya as well) is keeping track of everyone--it's hard to get everyone to stay together as a group, I've noticed.

Finally, we got to Harajuku--my favorite. One reason it was my favorite is we got to do our own thing. First we went to a cat cafe called Moff. We had to get a locker and remove our shoes; buying a drink was also required (I had to get an iced tea with no sugar, but Kerry generously donated some of his sweet strawberry drink to me). One kitty cat kept biting on my sock, which I found amusing but somewhat annoying after awhile. Then we went to Candy-A-Go-Go. We got peach gummies, chocolate rock candies, cola candies, and waffle cookies. Good stuff! Kerry didn't think the place was a crazy as last time; probably because the one cashier in there was not wearing a neon wig. She was wearing a black wig that made her look a bit like a Halloween witch, though. Next was a Harajuku crepe: long line for this, few savory crepe options, and no boba in the tea, but the food was still really good! I got a tuna with cheese crepe and a milk tea. After this, we were pretty much done.

Our last event of the day was a trip to the Tokyo Government Building. We went to the 45th floor for a majestic view--and some gift shopping. 

Dinner was with Crystalyn. We went to Denny's. It was way more Japanese and much less American than I anticipated--no Moons Over My Hammy. We had to place in our in machine at the table, which was a bit confusing to us. Even though we had questions, the waiter was polite to us. (In general, I notice that the Japanese are very kind and polite to us, even when we don't understand. A lot of bowing, a lot of "Arigato," or "Thank you.") We finally got things figured out: I had a cobb salad, fries with salmon roe mayonnaise, and Genovese pesto spaghetti with a bit of chicken and potatoes. Quite good. 

Our day was done by then. We like to stop at 7-11 for desserts because they are cheap and good. There's this one bun I've fallen in love with--it has a whipped cream filling. And it's only 14 yen, or one dime! Crazy. I'm quite shocked how much cheaper things are here. 

 

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