Tokyo let us down on the weather front yesterday, it rained all day so we still didn't get to any parks. We did however meet some amazing locals who helped us find our hotel.
We got off the train with very detailed directions to the hotel in hand, our still rather large bags, in the pouring rain. We were doing well and knew that we were within a block of our hotel when we made a wrong turn, just as the rain got a little heavier. We were stood at a road intersection doing that lost tourist thing of peering at a map then a road sign, then turning the map round and staring some more.
A young couple came over to us and asked where we were going, we told them the name of our hotel and they looked a bit puzzled, they whipped out an iPhone got up a map and started to lead us off in what I guessed was the wrong direction. I think the woman thought it was the wrong direction as well as she kept trying to show the phone to the guy but he dashed off and started speaking to an older lady who happened to be walking past. After 5 minutes of chatting and checking of the iPhone the older lady started to lead all of us along a side road back to an intersection that we had past 20 minutes earlier, at which point I realised where we had gone wrong and realised where the hotel was. I couldn't explain this in Japanese so we waved goodbye to the old lady and carried on following the young couple. 5 minutes later we found the back door to the hotel which had a handy map showing us the way to the front entrance, after a chorus of Arigato's we parted from our guides and were soon in the dry.
We spent the rest of the day running in and out of shops and coffee shops around Ueno, Shibuya and Harajuku.
In half an hour we are back on the Shinkansen to Hiroshima.
Showing posts with label Weather. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Weather. Show all posts
Sunday, 18 March 2012
Monday, 27 February 2012
Art and arctic winds
I am not sure whether we have gone soft after all this time in the heat or it is just bitterly cold here but yesterday was very cold again, I don't think February is Tokyo's best month.
So we decided to do an art gallery, we had a brisk wander through the palace parks again to the Momat, one of Tokyo's many modern art galleries. We had spotted a poster which seemed to suggest that there was a big Jackson Pollock show on and were rather pleased to find it open. The Pollock exhibition was really good and very inspirational, if you want to know my opinion on what Pollock's work is about ask me when we get back as I found it educational walking though his work from art school through to his final pieces. The signage in the Pollock show was not in English but in the permanent collection the signage was good and we had an interesting time looking at 20th century Japanese art. The we enjoyed hot chocolate from a can, yes enjoyed!
Gallery done we headed across town to Shinjuku to the Tokyo Government towers to get a free bird's eye view of the city.
Tokyo doesn't really have a skyline as it is too big and has several centres so it makes for an different landscape than New York or Hong Kong.
The towers obviously had a gift shop like all good tourist attractions so we had a quick look around before we headed off to get food.
Last night in Tokyo so we are off to brave the cold then Jump on an overnight bus to Kyoto.
So we decided to do an art gallery, we had a brisk wander through the palace parks again to the Momat, one of Tokyo's many modern art galleries. We had spotted a poster which seemed to suggest that there was a big Jackson Pollock show on and were rather pleased to find it open. The Pollock exhibition was really good and very inspirational, if you want to know my opinion on what Pollock's work is about ask me when we get back as I found it educational walking though his work from art school through to his final pieces. The signage in the Pollock show was not in English but in the permanent collection the signage was good and we had an interesting time looking at 20th century Japanese art. The we enjoyed hot chocolate from a can, yes enjoyed!
Gallery done we headed across town to Shinjuku to the Tokyo Government towers to get a free bird's eye view of the city.
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| Amy is Excellent Beautiful |
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| Matt is Truth Capital |
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| I really wanted a Lightsaber Umbrella |
Sunday, 26 February 2012
Miraikan
Quick bit of background, Aimee and I love space stuff, Aimee has never been to a planetarium, so we have tried on a couple of occasions to get to one, we failed again but it was a good day out.
Yesterday the weather was really rubbish here, very cold, windy and raining so rather than trudge about in the cold we opted for a museum day. We found out about the miraikan (and its supposed planetarium) in our guide book and navigated 3 trains to get there.
The experience was a slight disappointment to start with as the planetarium show was fully booked and instead we had to pick a 3D film about world heritage sites at the end of the day. While we waited we went to check out the rest of the exhibits. We go to a lot of science museums and it has to be said the the exhibits here are some of the best that we have seen, almost all of the signage is bilingual, nothing was out of order and there was a wide range of hands on stuff. There was also a lot of exhibits on cutting edge science which was really cool, like a holographic mirror (although I did guess how it was done which amused the guy working the exhibit).
Talking of cutting edge I couldn't believe it when we spotted there was a live demo of Asimo, the little robot chap that you see on the telly from time to time when they have managed to get him to do something new.
I can't really say a lot about this as it blew my geeky mind check out the video.
Genuinely still can't believe we have seen him.
We rounded out the day with the 3D show which was good, there was some really nice helicopter shots in New Zealand, but I was still thinking about how to get my hands on my own Asimo.
We finished off the day in the Akihabara, Electric town, with a meat free meal.
Off out now as it is not raining.
Yesterday the weather was really rubbish here, very cold, windy and raining so rather than trudge about in the cold we opted for a museum day. We found out about the miraikan (and its supposed planetarium) in our guide book and navigated 3 trains to get there.
The experience was a slight disappointment to start with as the planetarium show was fully booked and instead we had to pick a 3D film about world heritage sites at the end of the day. While we waited we went to check out the rest of the exhibits. We go to a lot of science museums and it has to be said the the exhibits here are some of the best that we have seen, almost all of the signage is bilingual, nothing was out of order and there was a wide range of hands on stuff. There was also a lot of exhibits on cutting edge science which was really cool, like a holographic mirror (although I did guess how it was done which amused the guy working the exhibit).
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| A simple fish, no he is a descendant of the first fish bred in space! |
Talking of cutting edge I couldn't believe it when we spotted there was a live demo of Asimo, the little robot chap that you see on the telly from time to time when they have managed to get him to do something new.
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| Geek out! It's Asimo! |
Genuinely still can't believe we have seen him.
We rounded out the day with the 3D show which was good, there was some really nice helicopter shots in New Zealand, but I was still thinking about how to get my hands on my own Asimo.
We finished off the day in the Akihabara, Electric town, with a meat free meal.
Off out now as it is not raining.
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