Today's mission (hopefully not impossible):  Tokyo Skytree

Last night we tried to book tickets to go up the Tokyo Skytree - it is a new tower that has been erected since our last visit.  

Greg went online and tried for quite a while and it just frustrated him.  Why?  We tried to book a Wednesday afternoon time but when he went to confirm we needed a phone number associated with our credit card.  Two issues - our credit card profile numbers do not include the Canadian Country Code for dialing (1), so would not be accessible from here without it for SMS texting.  Everytime Greg the time slots he tried kept filling up when we even tried to confirm.  Totally frustrated we decided just to head over there for when they opened at 10am and see what happens.

We have visited several towers in our travels over the years, but Tokyo Skytree is the tallest one - no doubt since standing at 634 metres or 2,080 feet, it is the world's tallest tower!  Toronto's CN Tower is only 553 meters or 1,815 feet high.  We took the train and arrived there about 9:30 in the morning.  It wasn't opened yet but we gave the area a glance while we were waiting.  The tower is of course the main focal point but there was a large tower next to it, known as the East Yard, which has 31 floors of shops, then the shops below the tower called the Tower Yard, with a mere 5 floors of shops, and finally another building called the West Yard with 5 floors of shops.  Also on site is the Sumida Aquarium, Konica Minolta Planetarium as well as a seasonal outdoor skating rink.

We spent about 4 1/2 hours experiencing the Tokyo Skytree. We checked out the views from the 350 metre level, the 450 metre level and a few floors in between.  This was a very popular attraction as probably about 8 school tours went in just before opening.  The elevators were very smooth and quick going up the Skytree to the 350m floor - it only took 50 seconds.  there was a glass door so we could see the landscape going up as well as a window looking up as the elevator moved.  The views were excellent as it was a fairly clear day today (we didn't come yesterday as it was overcast).  The only disappointment was we couldn't see Mt. Fuji very well today.  At 340m they advertised a glass floor - we were expecting a huge glass floor like at the CN tower but it was only about 5 x 10 feet.

There were a multitude of shops and restaurants between the three "Yards".  We picked one of the restaurants on site for lunch.  There were lots of restaurants with plastic food models of their menu items and clear prices to go with them.  Greg decided he was starved so we tried a Japanese buffet restaurant.  There was a soup and salad bar, you could make your own ramen type dish, an array of hot foods and of course, a dessert bar!  Though we didn't know exactly what we were eating and drinking most of the time, it was all very good.  The only item which wasn't 'delightful' was the fried rice as it turned out to be too spicy!  It was a late lunch and we figured we might not need supper. We were stuffed!

We decided to check out the Sumida Aquarium - very cool.  Lots of different kinds of fish and jellyfish, plus bonus - seals and lots of penguins!  There were also some salamanders and turtles.  The fish and jellyfish were in a variety of sizes and types and all so beautiful.  One large 2 storey floor to ceiling tank housed many fish as well as a shark and 2 stingrays.  Too cool!

By 6pm we were ready to head back - we had been on site for more than 8 hours!  It was getting dark and as we walked out of the buildings, we could see the Skytree lighting up - different colours up and down the colour - very beautiful, especially with all the garden lights along the walkways and stairways!

When we took the train 'home', we did some recognaissance work for tomorrow's trip back to Narita Airport.  Normally not an issue but we are hauling a bunch of luggage and some routes have LOTS of stairs. :-(

We were still full from supper, so we just picked up a couple of small pieces of fried chicken and a sandwich from our local Family Mart on the ground floor of the hotel.  Time to reshuffle the luggage contents and gear up for tomorrow's adventure!