So I totally haven’t been keeping track of what’s been happening the past few days. All I can remember is how painful my feet are from all the walking I’ve done!

Let’s backtrack to Friday first.

Friday was my first in day Tokyo. I was all by myself after Donna and I parted ways at the station. I was very excited to be out exploring, but I was also nervous being out on my own, since I had no idea what I was doing. Nevertheless, I hopped on the train and made my way to Ueno Station. The weather got a bit better throughout the day and I was really lucky that it didn’t rain.

My first stop was to the Ueno Zoo to see the pandas. It’s been years since I’ve been to a zoo, so I was totally walking around like a little kid in awe of the animals. The giant panda there looked like a blob of black and white. I stood there for a good 2-3 minutes and it remained in the same position with its back to us. So lazy!

Anyway, I toured pretty much all the East side of the zoo before stopping at the Monorail Station, which would take me to the West side. I can’t remember how much I paid for the ticket, but the ride lasted all of two minutes!! Geez…I could have just walked across to the other side!

I made a quick stop to the Garden Cafeteria for lunch. It was a challenge trying to order lunch inside there. Hahaha…my first of many challenges in ordering food in Japan!

I finished touring the rest of the West side in the early afternoon. I took a walk by the Shinobazu Pond and exited at the Benten Gate. I think I must have walked around in circles trying to find the Toshogu Shrine. But the weather was really nice, and there were a lot of other people walking down the paths. The cherry blossoms were starting to come out, so altogether it made for a very refreshing walk. I finally made it to the Toshogu Shrine and it was lovely. Not as impressive as Nikko, but it was very nice.

I also took a stroll out towards the Saigo Takamori monument. It was cool seeing it, after studying about him in Japanese History. I had to ask this businessman to take a picture for me and he totally cut off Saigo’s head in the shot! =(

After Saigo, I finished exploring Ueno after walking through Ameyoko Market. There was a lot a stuff on sale there and it was really fun seeing the different foods you could purchase.

Seeing as I was just a couple stops away from Akihabara Electric Town, I hopped back on the JR and did a quick spin in Akihabara. It’s crazy the amount of electronics on sale there!

I was completely exhausted around 7pm and decided to head back to Donna’s. I thought I would have missed the rush hour traffic on the trains, but I got right in the midst of it! I guess I didn’t take into consideration the bajillion hours that Japanese people put into their workdays. It was claustrophobic!! I guess it’s an experience everyone has to go through traveling in such a busy city!

*****

Today I started off traveling around Harajuku. I got off the train at Yoyogi Station hoping to make my way to the park. I totally ended up getting lost and hopped back on the JR to Harajuku Station to try again. I took a huge detour before I finally made my way to the Meiji Shrine. The weather was PERFECT that day and there were so much couples getting married! It was amazing to watch them walk through the procession.

After the Meiji Shrine I decided to try again to find Yoyogi Park. I took another wrong turn and somehow ended up at Yoyogi Station again! So I got back on the JR AGAIN and took it to Harajuku, then I walked over to Yoyogi Park from the station.

Since it was the weekend, everyone was out having picnics and playing sports in the fields. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a park so lively! I walked around a bit before I left for Omotesando Hills. The mall itself was really beautiful, but everything was extremely pricey! I think I enjoyed walking down Takashita Dori much more, which took me back to Harajuku station.

The day out was amazing! I hope the weather stays for Mt. Fuji and Hakone tomorrow!