Caledonian Sky in the port of Ulsan, Korea   Geoff Brock & Bruce Gamble
         
     

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Sightseeing in Tokyo with Narumi & Hiroshi
and later with the group
Monday 2nd May 2016
 
The next morning, we were up early for breakfast. We had a full day ahead.
 
After breakfast, we strolled around the tranquil gardens of our hotel.
 
 
 
 
 
From the gardens, we could see the restaurant where we had our "theatrical" and culinary experience last night.
 
 
 
Our friend Narumi, who had been our tour leader during our tour of Japan in 2005, and with whom we had stayed in contact, generously offered to take us out for a tour of the lesser known parts of Tokyo, certainly from a foreign tourist perspective. She and her husband met us at our hotel in the morning. When she heard that we really only had a few hours to spare before we needed to meet up with the group again, she said there was no time to waste and immediately hailed a taxi. It was only after the event that we realised it was quite a drive to where she wanted to take us, i.e. The Nezu Shrine and gardens.
 
Arriving at our destination, Narumi's guided tour began. Here she is below with Hiroshi, although there is a better photo of them both later.
 
 
We were fascinated by what we saw.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Temple at the Nezu-jinja shrine.
 
 
 
 
 
We had missed the peak of the Azalea and Rhododendron flowering season, but it was still a beautiful display.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Nezu-jinja Shrine
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Geoff with Hiroshi and Narumi.
 
 
 
 
At the end of our visit, we left the gardens for a 20 minute stroll through some interesting residential areas.
 
 
 
 
 
We arrived at Ueno station from where we caught a train to Kinshicho station (I think)...
 
 
 
...from where it was only a short walk to the Tobu Hotel Levant.
 

We thanked Narumi and Hiroshi for taking the time to see us and for the very interesting morning we had spent together. We then joined the group for lunch at the hotel, in one of their vast banqueting halls.
 
A view of the Tokyo Skytree from the hotel.
 

After lunch, we boarded a coach and went to see the Imperial Palace.
In hindsight, it might have been nicer to spend more time with Narumi and Hiroshi,
given that we had been here before and it was quite some time before our train was due to depart.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
A statue of Kusunoki Masashige (1294 – 1336) who was a Japanese samurai of the Kamakura period remembered as the ideal of samurai loyalty.
 
 
We had about an hour free before going to the station to catch our train...
 
and jet-lag was taking its toll on Geoff!
 
Finally it was time to reboard our coach and drive to the station for the next stage - high-speed to Niigata.
 
 
 
©Geoff Brock and Bruce Gamble