We met everyone at 8.00am for breakfast
Gavin and Jane were there too ... they had had an early night the night before

Anyway, we made plans to do some sightseeing in Tokyo for the day after attacking the big breakfast buffet
Errol smashed the bacon and eggs and I went more traditional with baked fish and miso soup and rice and relishes, etc
And it was delicious !!

Then Erin, myself, Errol, Hugh, Gavin and Jane headed off

The first place we went was the Imperial Palace
(click here for more information)

Tanya and Kikyo-bori Moat two photos	Ote-mon Gate three photos	Cherry Blossoms four photos
A Tree in one of the Garden Areas one photo	Hugh .. Tanya .. Erin .. Jane .. Gavin two photos	Tanya .. Hugh one photo
The Gardens and The City one photo	Erin .. Jane .. Hugh .. Tanya one photo	Erin .. Tanya .. and a Tree !! two photos
A Path and A Dude two photos	Bamboo Grove one photo	A 'very cool' Tree one photo
Jane .. Tanya .. Hugh .. Erin .. Gavin two photos	Gavin .. Erin .. Hugh Jane .. Tanya .. Errol two photos	Errol .. Tanya two photos
Tanya .. Jane two photos	A 'very cool' Lamp one photo	Tanya .. Errol .. Erin two photos
On the Island two photos		Fish in the Pond one photo
Cherry Blossoms two photos	Cherry Blossoms two photos	Cherry Blossoms two photos
Tanya + Cherry Blossoms two photos		Tanya and Errol + Cherry Blossoms one photo
	The tour is Over !! one photo

We wandered through the gardens
We couldn’t get to the Palace as the Imperial Family still live there so it was very secure but the gardens are open to the public
They were beautiful and structured and very manicured
There were lots of what Trevor decided to call “poodle trees”
There were of little guard houses with bamboo roofs and there were also some cherry blossoms just starting flower
What we saw was beautiful so I can only imagine what they would look like in full flower
There was a little pond with enormous gold fish in it and bridges and lots of huge walls built for defence which reminded me of the pyramids as we wondered how they managed to build them so many years ago
There was a bamboo grove and lots of open space too
Looking from the middle of the gardens out to the crazy city was an interesting sight

It was here that Errol and I left the others and headed off to our next temple
They had already been in Tokyo a few days, and had been to the next places we wanted to go

We headed off to Senso-ji Temple
(click here for more information)

We took a wrong turn out of the station and came across a very bizarre looking building

Asahi Beer Hall
one photo

I thought it looked like 'a big gold poo' but everyone was taking photos of it so we did too
(click here for more information on the Asahi Beer Hall and click here for details on Philippe Starck)

Anyway, we retraced our steps and found the Kaminarimon or Thunder Gate
(click here for more information)

The Kaminarimon one photo

Tanya and Errol at The Gate three photos

It had the biggest lantern I have even and there were people everywhere

We went through the gate and wandered down the Nakamise-dori which is a pedestrian shopping street
(click here for more information)

Tanya in the Nakamise-dori Street district
one photo

It was mostly markets and it was quite fun to see all the options for our purchases which we had decided to leave to later in the trip
There was heaps of 'Hello Kitty' type cartoony stuff
I was surprised at how much of the stuff, even for adults, was in cartoon

Tanya in a 'very cool' street of the markets
three photos

As we wandered I found a great street, lots of signs and lamps and cables and I took a pile of photos

Another Gate and Temple one photo

Octopus Balls .. Takoyaki one photo

We got closer to the Temple and the souvenir markets turned into food markets
We grabbed some fresh made octopus balls (takoyaki) and had a snack ... yum !!
(click here for more information)

Senso-ji Temple
four photos

We made it to the temple proper and we went to the incense shrine type thing where you were supposed to use your hands to wave the incense smoke over any part of your body that ails you ... I put it everywhere

Errol at the Fountain one photo

Tanya at the Fountain three photos

The Centrepiece one photo

We then found a fountain and after watching the locals, we had a go of it ourselves first using the wooden ladles to wash our hands then ladle some water into our hands to drink
We think we did it right but weren’t sure whether we were supposed to do it before or after the incense

Tanya and two Buddah one photo	Tanya in front of a Shrine one photo	Smoking Station one photo
	Two "tough guy" Samurai Warriors two photos

We wandered and found lots more little temples and shrines and ponds with fish and lots of locals were using the temple to go about their daily business and it was great to watch

Next stop on the 'temple train' was Meiji Jingu
(click here to go to the Official Web Site)

The Torri Shrine Gates two photos		Tanya and Errol at the Shrine Gates two photos
Shukueisha two photos		Look at this "LOVE-ly" Hinge !! two photos

The gates were amazing ... very tall, very grand
The gardens were quite amazing and reminded me a little of home
There was also a working temple and there were lots of locals going about their daily business

Something from the internet ... Tokyo has thousands of public toilets Nearly all rail and subway stations have public toilets, though most are accessible after you have purchased a ticket and gone through the barrier Many public toilets in department stores, fast food restaurants and hotels will have both Western-style thrones and Asian squat toilets Public toilets in stations, parks and on the street will normally be squat style only Most of these toilets will not have toilet paper, soap or, least likely of all, anything to dry your hands on Be prepared and carry a handkerchief to dry your hands and a packet of paper tissues Public toilets have become more sanitary in Japan over the years and Tokyo has some striking designs to look out for

We were getting a bit cold at this point and it was time for a loo break
I couldn’t think of anything worse than dropping my pants in a public loo in a garden
I couldn’t not though ... so off I went !!
I dropped the jeans and the tights and sat down and it was such a lovely surprise to sit down on a beautiful heated toilet seat
Errol was lucky that I ever came out really ... I could have sat there with my warm tush for a very long time!

We made our way back to the hotel and had a nap ... it had been a long day of walking

We then met the rest of our group and took to the train to Shibuya Crossing
(click here for more information)

The Crossing and the People two photos		The Lights, Signs and Screens two photos
Tanya .. Trev .. Errol .. Michelle one photo	Errol .. Michelle one photo	Tanya .. Gavin .. Jane three photos

It's the one that you see on television ... all the lights and heaps and heaps of people
When the cars stop the whole intersection fills up with people
We took photos and videos and then we ran out in the middle to have our photos taken
I’m sure that all the Japanese people thought we were nuts and quite annoying by stopping in the middle of a massive group of moving people but they were all far too polite to say anything
It was fun and pretty crazy to see

We then went to find somewhere for dinner
We found a super posh restaurant that was pretty reasonable priced
We had bundock and lotus flower root and sting ray and sea urchin
It was all quite tasty and I felt very adventurous ... Errol tried it all too

Then it was back to the hotel for bed because we had arranged to meet at 5.00am in the lobby to head off to the Tsukiji Markets which are the largest fish markets in Japan
It all gets going at about 3.00am but that was a bit early for us

Oh, and I was expecting my friend from work Leanne and her boyfriend Ryan to arrive that night
They were travelling with friends and amazingly without consultation we had booked the same hotel
When I got back to the hotel they hadn’t checked in yet