Tokyo and Kyoto-Part 4 (Thursday)

All right, I’ll never finish if I keep describing in detail everything we did… Nevertheless, I think blogging about this trip is the best way for me to remember it, together with all the pictures we took. By Thursday, we became pros at getting around Tokyo. It was a breeze. Even mom knew exactly where to stick the ticket and when to get it out and when just walk through the gate.

Our first stop: Imperial Palace. Well, mostly the outside gardens and the bridge. You see, the Imperial Palace in Tokyo is not that impressive after all. It is the one in Kyoto that is definitely a gem. Therefore, we just took some pictures by the famous double-arched stone bridge Nijubashi, some towers and walked around the East Garden.

Hmmm-mmmm, yep. Ineed a new pose for my pictures. Haha.

From there we headed to Harajuku. Oooohhhhh, you have to go to Harajuku if you are ever in Tokyo. The strangest area of all! It is the district where you can find some of the more expensive stores, as well as stores like Gap and a ton of shops that sell clothes for around $500. Japanese fashion is very unique and is impossible to be described in one word. But in Harajuku, it is even more prominent. Short babydoll dresses with leggings or shorts, small French-looking hats and lots of jewelry. The strangest thing we have noticed is that most women wear their shoes at least half a size bigger than their foot, You can clearly see that when they walk. Hmmm.

My mom at the entrance to that crazy street

At Harajuku we also tried these yummy crepes with ice-cream/whip cream/fruits in them. There were about thirty different kinds to choose from. Some with salty filling like raw fish (gross!) and others with cheesecake kind of filling. Definitely a must to try next time we are there with kids.

As our day was coming to an end, we decided to walk over to the Meiji Temple, located right there in Harajuku area. The walk from the entrance tori to the temple itself is beautiful, woody and green at this time of year. I must say, it was much more impressive this time than the time we visited this place in January.

Doma Doma was where we went for dinner. It took us a while to find this REAL Japanese place since it was on a third floor of a building in a tiny street. Hotel concierge told us about it, so we were excited to try it. It is amazing what a little English/Japanese and lots of hand motions can do We got our orders and were fully satisfied. We THINK the waiter told us we could eat shrimps whole, with heads and eyes, since they were fried. So that’s what we did. Yum!

Can you read English in very small letters? Precisely at 7:32 am, only women are allowed to get into this car:) This is a sign at one of the metro stations.

To be continued......