Tokyo

One thing I have learned about myself on this trip is that I'm not really a city girl. Tokyo did my head in. I'm glad I went, but I'm not sure I need to do it again. I was hugely impressed, however, by how everything works - that many people, living on top of each other, and things like public transport and public spaces all seem to work really well. No graffiti, no cigarette butts everywhere - just a clean, well functioning city. With a squillion people in it.

Mark, mixing it up!

Taaaaaaaaall buildings!

The air quality was pretty sketchy...

We went up to the top of that!

We had some great food in Tokyo as well. We went to a pub somewhere - couldn't tell you where - and had dinner. It was the only place that wasn't packed and that could find us a table. It was so tasty!

Mmmmm... sake...

We're chopstick experts now!

Chicken on a stick! (Well, it started on a stick.)

 Then we had a stroll around Ginza. It was very shiny.

 Then we squeezed onto a train to get back to our hotel in Shinjuku...

No trip to Tokyo would be complete without a visit to Kinokuniya! I only bought four books...

We also had a walk in Gyoen Park in Shinjuku. It's one of the biggest parks in Tokyo, so you'd think it wouldn't be hard to find. And yet... for some reason, there are only two or three gates you can use to enter the park, so we ended up walking halfway around the park, trying to find a way in. We could see the trees and grass and ponds, but we couldn't get at them (and we did have a map, thank you very much)! By the time we stumbled across the entrance, we were so hot and irritated, we almost didn't bother. I'm glad we did, though, because it was really beautiful. 

 And the next day, it was time to head to Europe!

At Narita - the muppet strikes again!

A seasoned traveller...

And so we bade farewell to Japan. Next up - Europe!