And I am back!!! Blogging is like exercise—if you are consistent, it’s easy, once you slip up and skip some days (weeks)—it’s hard to get back to the routine. I am much more successful at getting back to writing posts than at getting back to the gym.
All righty…so our little family decided to visit Tokyo zoo, i.e. Ueno Zoo on our last day in Tokyo. Can you even imagine a zoo in the middle of Tokyo? Let me give you a hint about the size of their cages/houses….when you imagine Tokyo and Japan, in general, what kinds of houses do you think of? No…animals do not live in skyscrapers in Japan, but they live in very crowded conditions. So if you are one of those people who get very sad seeing animals living in tiny cages with all cement around them, don’t go to Ueno Zoo.
The good thing about the size of this zoo is that it’s easy to walk through and you can see lots of animals in a short period of time.
Here are the kids and Robert trying to make a rhinosaur’s face. ***It has been brought to my attention by Robert that there is no such thing as a rhinosaur. As I am writing this, I am dying from laughter because I meant to say "RHINOCEROS' FACE". When I was typing my original post, I kept trying to spell check it and nothing but a "dinosaur" came up, so I figured I was right, and the spell check was wrong. I even googled it but no success. Yep...that's me being Ukrainian.***
After an hour of playing on the beach, everyone was ready to go inside and explore more. After walking through some stores at the mall and finding out more about Joypolis (inside amusement park) and its prices, we decided that we’d have to skip that as well and went to the arcades areas.
I don’t blame you if you expect a picture of Japanese arcade games here, or even better a crazy video of the sounds, noises and lights you get there, but somehow, neither Robert nor I even remembered we should capture such a prominent moment of our lives as visiting the Japanese arcade games.
Funny moment of the day: Robert figured he’d buy 1000 (about $13) worth of game coins and give them to kids to use in the machines. He put the bill inside on of very suspicious looking machines. It spit out about a hundred weird looking coins. At first we weren’t sure what to do with THOSE coins because they did not fit into any standard arcade machines. Finally, somehow with a lot of hand motions and talking to the Japanese guy who works there, I understood what happened. We got coins for a special kinds of machines in which you put in a coin and then it falls and if you have enough coins inside, the whole pile drops and you get all that money….except…that money is not real money, it’s MORE of that same kinds of coins... Anyway, I don’t know if that makes sense, but it definitely was very funny when we realized how dumb we must have looked to that guy:)
After another hour there of playing Mario carts and Katya’s tearful attempts to get a prize on one of those “claw” games (holy cow, that’s such a rip off even if you have $10 to spend), we found a place to eat. This time we ate at a cheap Italian pizza/pasta place with a fantastic view of the Rainbow bridge all lit up.
All righty…so our little family decided to visit Tokyo zoo, i.e. Ueno Zoo on our last day in Tokyo. Can you even imagine a zoo in the middle of Tokyo? Let me give you a hint about the size of their cages/houses….when you imagine Tokyo and Japan, in general, what kinds of houses do you think of? No…animals do not live in skyscrapers in Japan, but they live in very crowded conditions. So if you are one of those people who get very sad seeing animals living in tiny cages with all cement around them, don’t go to Ueno Zoo.
The good thing about the size of this zoo is that it’s easy to walk through and you can see lots of animals in a short period of time.
Here are the kids and Robert trying to make a rhinosaur’s face. ***It has been brought to my attention by Robert that there is no such thing as a rhinosaur. As I am writing this, I am dying from laughter because I meant to say "RHINOCEROS' FACE". When I was typing my original post, I kept trying to spell check it and nothing but a "dinosaur" came up, so I figured I was right, and the spell check was wrong. I even googled it but no success. Yep...that's me being Ukrainian.***
And we always have to get a picture with the flamingos.
Petting zoo was a hit with our kids. Who knew they loved goats? I think Katya and Alex sat still for ten minutes, just petting “their own” goat. Mark loved to chase them.
If you know me well, you know that I have this horrible fear/disgust of anything rodent—mice/rats especially. So as soon as I saw this exhibit, I simply ran outside and stayed there until the kids were done. Robert seemed to enjoy it.Kids were actually playing and holding mice!!!
Why does this picture remind me of “Three blind mice” nursery rhyme?:)
Any guesses of what this crowd is for? What animals are they looking at?
Apparently the most famous animal in this zoo is PANDA, brought from China.
Obviously, we took a whole bunch more pictures of animals and kids, but nothing really stands out to me, so I’ll just keep going with my account of the day.
After a JR train ride and a short walk, we arrived to Hinode Pier, one of the stops on the Tokyo River Cruise line. In our previous trips to Tokyo, I have taken my mom and Lyena on a boat from Asakusa to Hamarikyu gardens. But this time, our plan was to take it from Hinode Pier to Odaiba. Don’t let me fool you, it’s all not that easy to just show up to Tokyo and figure out what to do. I do spend quite a bit of time online/going through my old brochures/asking people in order to plan a trip, especially with kids.
Anyway, Alex and Robert wished this were our boat. Nah, we just got a regular modern boat:) with maybe only 20 people on board.
It was a very pleasant 35 minute ride to Odaiba. One of the highlights of the ride is the view of the famous Rainbow Bridge.
Ukrainian Power is everywhere.
Believe it or not, I still don’t know how to say, “Could you please take our picture?” in English…shame… but everyone I ask understands. I point at my camera and say “kudasai”…haha
“Oh wait, let me fix my hair…”
Approaching Odaiba island. That cool building with a ball is a Fuji building, but we ran out of time and didn’t get to visit it. Oh wait, I have to tell you that Odaiba is an artificial island that was built back in 1853. But only around 1996 it started to become a “futuristic” town with some inside amusement park. Fuji building, huge mall, ferris wheel, and other entertainment.
Once you arrive, you see a nice beach area, not swimmable, I assume. The day was just perfect for some fun in the sand. We didn’t have any extra clothes, so keeping the kids away form water was a must.
Beautiful Katya.
The view from where I was sitting.
I don’t blame you if you expect a picture of Japanese arcade games here, or even better a crazy video of the sounds, noises and lights you get there, but somehow, neither Robert nor I even remembered we should capture such a prominent moment of our lives as visiting the Japanese arcade games.
Funny moment of the day: Robert figured he’d buy 1000 (about $13) worth of game coins and give them to kids to use in the machines. He put the bill inside on of very suspicious looking machines. It spit out about a hundred weird looking coins. At first we weren’t sure what to do with THOSE coins because they did not fit into any standard arcade machines. Finally, somehow with a lot of hand motions and talking to the Japanese guy who works there, I understood what happened. We got coins for a special kinds of machines in which you put in a coin and then it falls and if you have enough coins inside, the whole pile drops and you get all that money….except…that money is not real money, it’s MORE of that same kinds of coins... Anyway, I don’t know if that makes sense, but it definitely was very funny when we realized how dumb we must have looked to that guy:)
After another hour there of playing Mario carts and Katya’s tearful attempts to get a prize on one of those “claw” games (holy cow, that’s such a rip off even if you have $10 to spend), we found a place to eat. This time we ate at a cheap Italian pizza/pasta place with a fantastic view of the Rainbow bridge all lit up.
At around 7:30 pm we headed home, as we knew we still had an hour before we would finally get to bed. We took a special train that “flies” in the air and takes you from Odaiba to mainland.
I thought this picture of what it’s like on the train says it all.
Wow, that was a full day. Glad we finally went to Ueno Zoo and explored Odaiba. The boat ride was one of my favorite activities once again. Sadly, this is probably our last trip to Tokyo, at least as a family. Although, you never know. Maybe next August, we’ll be moving to Yokota—an AF base near Tokyo. We’ll keep you posted on that.
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