Hi all
I had a nice leisurely day strolling around the Roppongi District after picking up our passports with China Visas from the Embassy. I took the train all by my BIG self up to Tokyo and even made it home from a new and different train station. Cool! :-)
It was a very quiet train ride as they all seem to be. I am not kidding, if you were to LISTEN, you can almost literally hear a pin drop if there isn't a group of friends traveling together chatting with one another. Everyone who is on there solo,is either busy reading a book (with a book cover, so you have no idea what book it is), sleeping, listening to their I pods or texting on their cell phones... If they are in an area of the train car that allows that. It is as if they are sitting in a clear bubble and you don't enter that zone. No one makes eye contact either, except for me.:-) I don't hear or see anyone talking on their phones either. It is almost as quiet as a good library.
Do you know how hard that is for me not to try and strike up a conversation with the person sitting right next to me, almost in my lap? Well, it is not so bad now, beacuase I can't speak Jpanaes, but wait till I have my "Japlish" down...then what? Hum,I wonder if I would get kicked out or off by the "librarian" I mean conductor, if I did try talking to someone? It is a very DIFFERENT experience that is for sure.
So once I left the Embassy I just decided I would wander around, and see what I trouble I mean things I could find...I headed in the opposite direction from the cemetary where I think I got that rash the other day...
I first visited the Arisugawanomiya Memorial Park and the one half of it was very nice and quiet with a rather murky pond, ducks and Coi swimming, turtles sunning, men and kids fishing, ladies painting pictures of the waterfall, cicadas singing, and lots of people starting to arrive to eat their lunches on the numerous benches scattered around the greenery and along the creek.
It also had a library in the middle of it and I was going to go in and see if they had any books in English as this is the area where all the embassies are, but I never did get in there. I guess I was too preoccupied reading all the "DONT DO this"...signs or seeing what kind of figures I could make out of the bird poop splotches on the sidewalk. I know some look up at the clouds and I look down at the ground and see.....Call me crazy, but there was nothing else I could do..I mean,I am not kidding, there must have been 12 different signs telling you not to do something or other. YIKES!:-( DON'T walk your dog off the leash, DON'T swing a bat, DON'T play baseball or soccer in this area, DON'T go in the bushes, as there has been a swarm of harmful insects, DON'T go in the bush,mind the caterpillars they are dangerous insects (wonder what kind those are), DON'T feed the crows,pigeons or cats, DON'T play with fire, fireworks,or fire crackers, DON'T ride your bike, DON'T climb the fence,DON'T pick the flowers and last but not least DON'T forget to pick up your dog's feces...:-)
It felt like the "DON'T PARK" (and will be called that from now on by me), once I got to the other side and so I exited after sitting for a bit to call CJ and let him know I got the Visas OK. I sat near the fenced in kids playground area where it looked like they could actually play on the equipment and have a little fun? YEA!!!Unless you have a child with you, you can't enter the fenced in area, so I only saw them playing from a distance. A rather sad place it felt like as I left and so different from feeling I got as I walked through the other side where it was tranquil,peaceful and quiet..perhaps that is why ?
I then wandered down the streets and passed many more different Shinto Shrines and more graveyards. I saw a little tiny hummingbird busy sucking nectar from a pretty pastel pink hibiscus, and butterflies flitting about as I walked by the Forest Apartments.
I then noticed the Tokyo Tower was not too far away when I saw it between some buildings up ahead and so I decided to head in that direction. Our nephew Justin wants a photo of the Tokyo Tower so I will go and try to get him a few shots at different angles.
Along the way, I stopped at what I thought was an information booth when I saw this little character out front,because I was looking for a map in english about the area. The guy went into the office and looked around,but could find nothing. He did not tell me till he came back out that this was the fire station.I came from the opposite direction so I had not yet passed the open doors with the big red trucks sitting there all shiny and bright. I told him no problem and then asked him who the character was and he said "Kuki". So, I thought what the heck I may as well take his picture, but the guy insisted on taking my photo with the mascot, so I obligued him. :-)
Alot of the city services and companies, restaurants... have their own cartoon like character that they use for a mascot and advertising. It is actually kind of cute and brings some color and faces instead of just word signs to the neighborhoods.
So I trudged on down the street and through another park and then crossed the street and up the big hill to the Tokyo Tower. Did not go to the top for a view of the city as it was rather cloudy and I would rather do that with CJ another day. I did look in the souvenir shops downstairs and also walked past all the fast food restaurants. McDonalds, 31 flavors Ice Cream,a competitor to Jumbo-sho I think, but I did not give in and try theirs ..I remained loyal. There was one Curry Lab restaurant that looked interesting though and I think CJ and I may have to try it out when we come back.
I got pics from every angle ..go figure ...and then I spied a crepe shop like the one we passed up in Harajuku a week or so ago and so I treated myself to one with strawberry ice cream, whipped cream,sprinkles and peaches. It was made right then and there and was Delicious.:-P On my way back to the train station I tried to help a muslim (she was wearing a burka..so I assumed they were)couple figure out where a bank was by their map, but it was not where it was supposed to be. Darn! They were a bit flustered as "No one speaks English here "..and so we looked around a bit and then we asked another younger guy and he said, "It looks to be an old map and it hs moved down the street". He was going that way and so he took them as I then went down the stairs and to my train home. I wanted to beat the rush hour train commuters. I did not feel like being pushed in and then riding home in a sardine can,especially since I had been profusely sweating for the past 4 hours.
Hey,I even figured out how to find a new subway station I had never been to before and was able to get on the right platform and train car going in the correct direction. YooHoo!!
I saw a girl with glittery silver shoes on this morning when I boarded the train and I thought right away of Dorothy and her ruby red slippers and it made me wonder if I was going to need to click my heels three times in order to get myself back to Yokohama later in the day? I am happy to say, I had no trouble what so ever. So now, I am ready to go explore another district of this very BIG city of Tokyo. Bring it on!
CJ just called and he is on his way home and so I had better go get the salads made to go with our last 2 mini pizzas from Costco. We are starting to carbo load, as were planning to try and hike Mt. Fuji-san this weekend. We will have pasta tomorrow night, so to have lots of energy when we head for the hills.
I need to read info that I pulled off the web this morning about Mt Fugi while we check out more Olympics coverage on TV. I feel a bit wind and possibly sunburned as well, from my 4 hours wandering the city in flip flops no less and so I am sure once I take my nightly shower I won't be awake too much longer after that.
So with that, I will leave you till tomorrow. I have no idea what my day will bring, except to get things ready for the Fugi climb.
More soon
Karla and CJ
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment