We only had 23 hours in Tokyo so had to make the most of it. Hubby woke up at 5:30 and lied quietly checking his emails etc. on his phone until I woke up at 7.

We made our way downstairs and had the buffet breakfast included int he price of the room. The tastiest thing for me was something that tasted like creme brulee without the burnt sugar topping. After breakfast we checked out and walked to the Meiji Jingu Shrine.We walked through a lovely forest while it rained and hubby commented how we had come 7000 miles only to be somewhere that was just like home.

This Shinto shrine dedicated to the deified spirits of the Emperor Meiji and his wife Empress Shoken. The Torii gates leading to the shrine complex were spectacular. We felt quite dwarfed by them. A wedding was happening while we were there however you couldn't get that close to see much and we wouldn't want to disturb a sacred ceremony so we stepped away.

We stopped and had ice cream and water and than walked back towards Harajiku station to find a taxi. One pulled up to let people out just as we got there so we hopped in. We had a little trouble trying to explain where we wanted to go but in the end we arrived at the right place - The United Nations University where a farmer's market and the Aoyama Bread Festival was happening.

We wandered around  checking out the market, the food trucks (how about some Patagonian food) and all the bread stalls. The packaging and sizing of the items on sale were so Japanese. A cone of three fresh carrots with their tops on in a opaque cone, the tiny loaves of bread etc. It was a delicious walk.

When we were done and the market my knees were hurting a lot but we walked to the Shibuya scramble and I had an iced coffee while we sat upstairs at the Starbucks overlooking everyone coming and going. 

Our final stop of the day was the Don Quioxte store (which we got lost four times trying to find). We had great fun checking out everything from Teriyaki Spam to bike seat covers. I bought one with Minnie Mouse looking bow ties for when it rains at home to protect my bike seat so I can have a dry seat.  

Finally we made our way to the trains and to the airport. While we waited at the airport we had a snack - hubby had a curry dish and I had a glass of bubbly cava. It was exactly what I wanted. Hubby took the bags back to wait at the gate and I sat in the massage chairs he had scoped out and spent twenty minutes in heaven being pummelled and having my legs kneaded and squeezed. I was in much less pain after the drink and the massage and we both relaxed until we boarded.

We had the same seats on this plane and we were so tired when we arrived we were basically sleepwalking. Chinese customs was awesome and we walked past beautiful Chinese screens on the way to baggage claim. You have to take a monorail/people mover to baggage claim. Beijing Capital Airport is huge. We landed at gate 521 to give you some idea how huge it is.

We were so excited to see our luggage and even more excited when we found our driver from the hotel waiting for us. The car ride was a stop, start one with one foot on the brake and one on the gas for about 35 minutes. The last part was driving in tiny hutong alleys and our expert driver made it look easy. Finally we arrived at our courtyard hotel and fell asleep by 10 PM.