Tokyo Trip - July 27, 2011

Day One

Today's first thing on the itinerary was an early breakfast at Tsukiji. I did get up early, but I was not in the mood for getting ready that early in the morning.  My tummy was craving for coffee. So I decided to head down to the lobby for my first cup of coffee and mistakenly pressed the iced coffee. I'm not really an iced coffee fan at any time of day or weather. Coffee was coffee and it would have been a waste to dump it, so yeah, I drank it while using the hotel's computer at the lobby. Y100 for ten minutes! By the way, it only does email. So I emailed family and friends - fast - as I could see the clock ticking away.  I ended up spending Y400!  What a waste, when I had a perfectly good computer in the room, which just happens to have a three prong and the sockets only had the two prong, plus they only have a LAN connection in the rooms.  So instead of breakfast at Tsukiji, I spent my morning getting all excited about discovering wifi in the lobby.  I got all my gadgets from the room, made myself a HOT cup of coffee this time and got in touch with the world :)

I decided to go to Tsukiji after all. A last minute decision when I was at the station. Had brunch instead of lunch.

My Appetizer - they sure do look like snails - but what the heck!  Though I did crave for Asahi to wash it down with :P

I did have my proper meal - おいしかった！

The facade of the restaurant I picked.

Next was the Hama-rikyu Gardens.  The family garden of the Tokugawa Shogun.

View of the Tokyo Tower from afar.

It was eeire...I could hear birds "cawing" - for lack of a better description - all around.  It felt like I stepped into the set of Robinhood.

I did not feel like going back to Tsukiji Station, so I decide to take the Sumida River Cruise to Asakusa.  The river cruise was tentatively on the itinerary anyway and Asakusa was the next destination anyway.  

The Rainbow Bridge

I just found this building interesting.

The view of the Tsukiji auction site - they just happened to be closed on Wednesdays so my not having breakfast there ended up to be a good decision :)

Asahi Breweries - where oh where were you when I was eating snails?

Got off from the Asakusa water bus stop and went looking for the Sensoji Temple.  Along the way, found many interesting things :)

These are the guys who push the rickshaws.  I noticed that they all have the same shoes.  Omoshiroi kutsu :)

Bicycle Parking

I had to take that photo.  I'm still getting used to the fact that they drive on the right side.  It always startled me, seeing a car with no driver, my first instinct was to get away from the car.  Well, aside from that, cyclists here are crazy!  You think Toronto couriers are mad?  Well..... here it's a mish mash of cars, people and bicycles.  People bike on the sidewalks from all directions!  Aside from navigating my way around people, I have to watch out for bikes, they come at you every which way and that is no exaggeration!  Looking at the bicycle parking above, I can appreciate how many people here bike.  

So I find these yellow lines everywhere - the stations, the sidewalks....  I guess they are to separate pedestrian traffic.  By the way, pedestrian traffic keeps right too.  "Keep Left, Move Right" does not apply here on the escalators.  It's the other way around.....and I just blocked a mile long line behind me because I momentarily forget until we were almost at the top.  Well, the guy behind me didn't say anything at all - OOOPS!

I am absolutely tired!  Somehow, I ended up at Kanda Station from the Akihabara area.  When I looked at my subway map, well, though on different lines, Kodemmacho and Kanda were right beside each other.  So I figured they were parallel to each other.  So I asked where Kodemmacho was, the guy said to take so and so train and get off at so and so station.  Well, that wasn't what I had in mind, so I said I wanted to walk, he said it was a bit far.  Yeah yeah....I tried walking anyway....yups it was far alright!  Finally saw a Nihonbashi sign, might I add that may have been sign for cars not people on foot.  Anyway, stubborn as I was I refused to take the subway.  Finally gave up at Nihonbashi Station cause it had an Asakusa Line which was the other station near my hotel.  Got off at Ningyocho.  I could have changed to the Hibiya Line which would take me all the way Kodemmacho, BUT stubborness prevailed.  My hotel was in the middle of Ningyocho and Kodemmacho so I could walk right?  Well, it was dark and I've never been to that station....well you can guess.  After aking good ol' Keikan-san, I did backtrack and found my way.  Yoshinoya!!!!  There you are!!!  Home Sweet Home.  It's always one thing or another, too tired to eat at Yoshinoya - this time opted for the Family Mart onigiri again, plus a Yebisu and Clear Asahi - I think I deserved it.