Sleep wasn't as bad as I feared it would be last night, but I was still awake very early, twiddling my thumbs and watching the hours tick by! As Tom has been here a week already, he is doing better than me.
We set off early for a day trip out to Nikko, a town with a large complex of temples, that is popular for tourists. We took the Shinkansen (bullet) train, which was exciting! It is very fast, but so smooth that you don't really feel it. I managed to take the above photo of the train station, but no picture of the actual train, sorry about that!
Tokyo is in a very flat expanse of land, but we were gradually going uphill towards Nikko, and we got to see some snowy peaks.
More toilet adventures- this 'westen ' style loo had a heated seat (that was a bit of a shock!). A later loo I visited played flowing water sounds when I sat down. Apparently this is a privacy mode, which you can turn on when you don't wish to be overheard!!
Please don't turn the taps off!
One of the temples we discovered was surrounded in scaffolding, and bore this interesting sign. "Today is Setubun. I can not worship." I wonder what Setubun is!
A big pagoda
Snow on the ground! This structure is called a Torii gate, and is found at the entrance to temples.
This is apparently the most decorative gate in Japan.
We looked around Nikko for several hours, and managed to find some areas to wander around that were slightly off the beaten track, so we had a good mix of busy popular tourist attractions, and our own explorations. After that is was back to Tokyo...
A cityscape near our hotel.
We decided to wander for a bit, as it was too early to retreat to bed. We found some wonderful brightly glowing streets around Akihabara.
This is a fun game- you can get a stamp at all the train stations, and there are many train stations, as there is an underground network like the tube.
A super tasty treat, a waffley fish with custard inside! This helped us push through the jet lag, especially after a warm and sleepy journey back from Nikko.
More lights!
We were handed a flyer to an owl cafe as we went down the street, and decided to take a look. There are many owls of different types inside, and some, though not all, are free to fly around as they please. You get a drink, and are allowed to stroke them as you wander round- though I was a bit wary of their beaks! Some of them did look a bit sad though, and I wasn't sure I felt it was the best life for an owl. They claimed they are all rescued birds though, so hopefully there's some truth in that.
Tomorrow we are exploring pastures new, I wonder what we shall find!
No comments:
Post a Comment