Tokyo: 03.18.2018 – True Day 1
Woke up around 5:00AM, obviously we haven’t yet adjusted to the time change. David went out to get us coffee. He came back to the hotel room with CANNED coffee!! Since it was so early, all the coffee options were still closed. Regardless, David managed to find hot canned coffee in a Vending Machine!!! Very cool!
Around 7:00AM we went down to get breakfast; it was delicious.
Picture caption: Hotel breakfast
The chef was extremely delicate while cooking my Salmon Eggs Benedict. It was like he was creating a piece of art.
After breakfast, we went exploring around Tokyo! The majority of the day was spent in Ueno Park enjoying the Cherry Blossom Festival. Currently, the trees are in the beginning stages of bloom.
Picture caption: Cherry blossom buds at Ueno Park
We did find one tree that was partially bloomed and it was BEAUTIFUL!
Picture caption: Cherry blossoms at Ueno Park
After enjoying the cherry blossoms, we visited a couple shrines. We learned about the Japanese method of prayer and a couple of the ceremonies.
After walking through the grounds, we stopped at the market and ordered some Takoyaki (octopus balls) and Grapefruit Kirin for lunch.
They were delicious but hard to chew, and possibly still moving… WILD!
While eating the Takoyaki, we enjoyed watching people feeding birds from their hands. The birds just flew right up and perched.
After lunch we went to another shrine and received a “lottery lot” fortune. Traditionally, if a bad fortune is received, the paper fortune should be tied to a rope. David and I received good fortunes, therefore kept them.
Once we completed our tours of the shrines we stopped and enjoyed the Koi’s at the local pond.
We continued our journey into the heart of the city and shopped at the big mall in downtown Tokyo. The mall had a grocery store in the basement and they had what appeared to be an auction/sale for raw tuna! This was a bit chaotic but fun to watch.
We took a pit stop at the bathroom in the mall and I was shocked by the genius idea of Baby Seats inside the stall!
We continued exploring the city and thought it would be a good idea to stop at a bar to enjoy a drink and meet some locals. What we did not know about the Japanese culture is “day drinking” isn’t a thing (even on the weekend). David ended up finding a local bar on google. As we were about to go into an elevator (up to the bar) a man stopped us. He asked if we were looking for the bar.
David’s Version: I am going to stop for a moment and just talk about a general theme. There are moments in everyone’s life that change the course of it. This was one of them; death and drugs are just some of the options that could have resulted. To say the very least, it was a very strange experience. Anyways, when we got up to the proper floor, we were the only ones there (the owner was unlocking the doors). We were taught a lot of proper ways of phrasing things and had a beer (Asahi). We were introduced to Ika (which was a Squid Jerky); it was delicious.
About an hour later, we wrapped up the conversation and finished our beer and left.
Just when I (Missy) thought our excitement was done for the day, it just began for David. We were on our way to the Tokyo Tower when we saw a street market and decided to take a detour (as a reminder, my anxiety level was already through the roof at this point). We walked around and window shopped and really got to experience the culture. It was pretty crazy the stuff they sell on these back streets.
Picture caption: Street market
Picture caption: Dried seafood
Picture caption: Top: Dried scallops / Bottom: Dried squid
David Version: Missy has been really upset that the Fish Market is closed. So, while in the Street Market, I saw a Fish Market in the basement of some random street market building. I asked Missy if she wanted to go, she said yes. However, it wasn’t as comfortable as she was hoping. We had to go into an extremely small elevator to the basement and then came into an extremely crowded market (not only fish, but random grocery stores). It was very claustrophobic, smelled heavy of seafood, and body odor. Missy and I explored. I can’t believe anyone was buying anything from that place. We were both in such shock we forgot to take pictures of how crazy it was.
Afterward, we left the basement and we were just exhausted, mentally and physically. We decided to head back to the hotel to recover. We attempted to take an hour nap but didn’t wake up till the next morning.
