Tokyo City Tour

Wednesday, March 27, 2019
Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
After breakfast in the main hotel, we were given an orientation talk by our Tour Director Emiko.  She gave us an overview of the day to day activities and then we all introduced ourselves.  
Because the bus was late due to heavy traffic, we flipped the schedule between the first and second tour days.  Guess the 13.5 million people in Tokyo were on the road at the same time.  There are crowds everywhere, but it is organized chaos.  
Stopped first at the Imperial Palace area to visit the Ninomaru Gardens.  The cherry blossoms are in bloom so our timing for the trip worked out as we wanted.  Most of the blossoms we have seen so far are white.  Hiked up a small hill to get an overview of the gardens and small waterfall.  We then drove to the Asakusa Sensoji Temple.  Visitors are not allowed to see the Buddhist Kannon statue in the shrine.  We did get to surround ourselves with the smoke from the incense cauldron which is suppose to bring good health.  We had lunch on our own at at a small noodle restaurant.  After lunch we went to the Tokyo National Museum which contains a large collection of art and antiquities from Japan and surrounding Asian Countries.  Wandered around for an hour+ but it was really warm inside.  The Japanese prefer warmer buildings, trains, etc.  than we do. 
After the museum we were scheduled for free time, but Emiko took us for a walk through the park near the museum to see the cherry blossoms. The path we walked on was lined on both sides with the trees in full bloom.  It is a custom by the people to have picnics after work under the trees since it is suppose to bring good luck.  Needless to say the park was mobbed.
Tonight we had our welcome dinner at Ginmasa about a 15 minute walk from the hotel.  It was a traditional Japanese restaurant.  We had to take our shoes off and we sat on low benches with legs stretched out underneath.  There were all kinds of fish and vegetable dishes plus some unknowns.  The sake and wine went well with all the food.
After walking 19,600 steps (about 8 miles), we were ready for bed.

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