For those of you who were on the mind trip early last week, sorry I didn't post Thursday and Friday. I was a little under the weather. But today, all is well again so we are back on our mind trip. Today we fly to Tokyo. We'll board our flight at 7:30 AM and then change planes in Shanghai before getting to Tokyo at 3:55 PM. Once we've gotten through customs and checked into our hotel, there isn't a lot of time left for sight seeing today. There is good news and bad news on our hotel in the Tokyo area. It is located 2 miles from the airport in Narita.... that's the good news. The bad news is that Narita is an hours train ride from Tokyo. A free shuttle will take us to our hotel which is the Crowne Plaza Ana Narita. But to get to Tokyo each day, we'll need a train pass. The starting price for our train pass is 15,000 yen (sounds scary, right?). That's about $155 US dollars (not so bad in dollars). That will get us a 4 day pass which is all we'll need.
So, tonight after arriving at our hotel, we've decided to just leave the hotel for a few minutes before having a relaxing dinner in one the nice restaurants on sight. Our one little "excursion" for the afternoon will be to a local park for a short walk around the koi pond and temple. We're headed to Naritasan Park which houses a temple which was established in 940 AD to commemorate the victory of forces who were sent to suppress a revolt. The park grew up around the temple. The main hall now serves as a calligraphy classroom.
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| The pond is full of huge koi. I LOVE koi! |
Thank goodness we were told to wear comfortable shoes on our "short visit" to Naritasan because it turns out that there are lots of trails to hike and the deeper you get into the streams and brooks the more there is to see. Although we thought we would only be here for an hour or so, we couldn't tear ourselves away. So we end up spending several hours walking around enjoying the scenery and get a little exercise in after our long day of travel as a result. Thank goodness it isn't cherry blossom time or we never would have made it back to the hotel!
Once back at the hotel we freshen up a little since we have spent the last few hours hiking around a park in the middle of the very humid Japanese summer. But then we hop on the elevator and head up to The Saifu Bar and Lounge located on the top floor of our hotel which offers the best in sashimi and tempura as you enjoy the view of the city and watch planes taking off and landing. If there's time we might even make our way to the spa for a massage to help relax us further following a long day of travel. Who knew we would have to spend such a long day traveling once we were already on this side of the world?
Before ending he day here are a few more photos of Naritasan Park and Temple. Tomorrow we'll be heading into Tokyo! I can't wait to see it for the first time!!!!
Have a great Monday!
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