We woke up on Wednesday morning and went for a long walk around the city around 6am.
We walked a few block north from our hotel to the Imperial Palace and started walking all around it.
Otemon gate
Otemon Gate.
Road signs
Otemon gate and the moat
Otemon gate and the moat that surrounds the Imperial Palace.
Old and New divided by a moat.
Takebashi Bridge.
Takebashi Bridge
Beautiful flowers all around the Palace grounds.
Takebashi Bridge.
I call this the donut house. Not sure what the building was. It said Fuji.
Takebashi bridge pillars
Takebashi bridge.
These beautiful flower plaques covered the walkway.
Another beautiful flower tile.
Incredible rock work around the palace walls
Small entry gate
Flutist in the park
Another gate entry to the Palace grounds.
Old bamboo fence with a new skyscrapers in the background.
The British Embassy
Moat separating the city from the Emperor.
National Theatre of Japan
Please make a diary entry, Rod is reading a map.
Even the man-hole covers are beautiful with lotus flowers.
Interesting looking trees.
The Diet Building. Both houses meet in this building.
A construction zone with one wall that had live grass growing on it. Maybe this was to show that it was a green zone.
Beautiful flower bed around the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.
Before 8am, not very many people or cars around.
Lucky for the English lettering, otherwise a lot of foreigners would be miserably lost.
Tokyo tower in the background.
The only palm tree I saw during our trip.
The street lamp was even interesting.
Familiar sight. Rod on the cell phone.
Old railroad. Underneath is full of stores and restaurants.
No fast food here. Eat slowly people.
Funny green skinny building in the Ginza district.
School children going to school, almost all of them were on their cell phones.
Near our hotel, a fun little alleyway with restaurants.
Japanese lanterns.
Yes, there was even a dentist.
"Good morning, how about awaking this morning?"
Our breakfast was served in our hotel restaurant. We were seated in a tatami room. Luckily we didn't sit on the floor but the floor under the table was stepped down.
My first Japanese breakfast: from left, grilled salmon, Skate wing in soy sauce, simmered Hajiki (sea weed) and Ferns, a pickled prune
upper row: salad with Japanese dressing, Tamago egg, simmered Burdock (Thistle), Shabu-Shabu bitter greens, oranges and strawberries and of course a little dish of rice.
Everything was delicious except...
The pickled prune. It was so incredibly pickled that it was bitter. Here is me attempting to taste it
Ok, not too bad...
Oh my, it is so bitter and tart.
I can't eat it anymore.
Ok, I'll try another bite. Nope, can't do it.
We took showers and then left to explore the city. Took the Yamato line again and went to Shinjuku. Rod had been there before so we walked around and found a mall right next to the Shinjuku station. We walked to the basement and it was a grocery floor. We walked around to see all of the incredible foods and pastries that we had never seen or tasted.
Gramercy of New York pastry shop they had a funny named pastry: Rock Nuts Feller
Shinjuku center.
Lunch time.
We found the Keio Mall and went to find some Katsu-don for Rod. It was all fried food so I only tasted a little. I stayed with the salad and miso soup.
Dessert was included with the meal so I asked what it was and I was told it was "rice pudding", this was no rice pudding. It was three squares dusted with green tea. When I tasted it, it tasted fishy and had the consistency of slimy gelatin. Not delicious.
After lunch we took the train to Akihabara which is the technological place. If you wanted anything techie, this is the place for you.
We came upon these three sumo wrestlers.
Ready to pedal?
"Let's go"
"What? Your pedal broke? Just put it into your basket!"
One legged pedaling.
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