Thursday, 4 May 2006

On Thursday we went down to Tokyo for a couple of days. We had a huge itinerary of stuff to see so be prepared to feel overwhelmed.

Thursday - The East Gardens of the Imperial Palace and the Lulu Guinness shop
Friday - Tokyo National Museum

I know, I know - a massive list of stuff! Not.

So on Thursday we caught the train down from Takasaki to Shinjuku (it was an express train) and walked around for a while. Then we caught the Yamanote Line back to Ueno and walked to the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace. The gardens were quite beautiful and it's fantastic that they are smack in the middle of Tokyo.

Here's the map for the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace - I've decided I want a moat.

Not all Japanese gardens are tortured trees and ponds. This one is a replanted Edo Period garden - looks like a forest doesn't it?

We wandered around for a couple of hours and lay in the sun for a bit and then had lunch at little cafe in Ginza. After stuffing ourselves with cake we then we took the subway to Roppongi Hills and went to the Lulu Guinness shop. It was very exciting and Mark bought me a lovely Lulu Guinness purse.

Isn't it just gorgeous?

Then we took the train back to Shinjuku and went up the observatory tower of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices which is the tallest building in Tokyo. After that we wandered around Shinjuku before finding our hotel. We had dinner at a French restaurant across the road from the hotel because I was knackered and refused to walk any further.