The end...

After my 10 days in France, I spent 6 nights in London, visiting friends, and saying goodbye again. Then back to Philadelphia, just in time for my niece's 1st Communion. After seeing the family, I headed up to NYC to start the job hunt. It lasted for about a month, I popped in and out of New York, for meetings and interviews, but wanted to take advantage of the rest of my time off to see friends and family.



It went like this:

5 nights in Pennsylvania at my brother Martin's

4 nights in NYC at my friend Liz's apartment

4 nights in Virginia at my friend Abby's new house

2 nights back at Liz's in NY

5 nights at my sister's in Chicago

2 nights at Liz's again in NY

5 nights with my parents down the Jersey shore

a day trip to Jersey City for an interview and NYC to visit the apartment that was almost mine

5 nights at my brother Rick's in NJ

7 nights back at Liz's in NY (she was away the whole time, so isn't hating me yet)

And finally in my new apartment on June 8th!



Some people think I can't sit still. I blame it more on being homeless for a month. And of course also wanting to see my family that each live in a different state. But...at the end of my crazy month, I have a job and an apartment.



The job - I met with over 30 people, some formal interviews, some informal - almost all from people I knew from one of my many jobs in the company over the past 8 years. I ended up with 5 job offers, and lots of dramatic decision making. Nothing in my life is drama free. But I picked a job and they picked me and I started this past week. And as my dad likes to point out the positive news that I'm not fired yet!



And my apartment - it was the 4th place I saw on my first day of looking. The agent had 2 other people downstairs waiting to see it, so I quickly said I would take it and what did I need to do to get it. I sort-of lied and said I had a job. And money. And then spent the next 24 hours running around trying to get paperwork together to show that I am a professional, and capable of paying rent, when in reality I hadn't worked in 6 months and my bank accounts showed a steadily decreasing balance. But, in the end, it worked, and I got the apartment. Well I was told I had it and that I could move in June 1st. But then was told I couldn't move in June 1st, but that it was still 99% mine. June 8th I got the keys, still 99% that it would be mine, and yesterday (the 13th), finally had my lease approved and know I can stay. Again, nothing like a little drama. If that 1% chance happened and I had to move, it would have been a lot harder with the bed, furniture, tv, and all the other stuff I bought in the few days I was in the apartment.



But, its mine now, and I love it. A studio apartment near Union Square. I love the location and the apartment is very cute, small, but cute. I've pretty much bought out Bed, Bath, & Beyond and now it seems like home. I was lucky to have Kate visiting NY the evening I got the keys, so we made the first trip to BB&B for the most important items - wine glasses, corkscrew, and cleaning supplies and had our favorite dinner of hummus, crackers, and wine in my new place!



My 9 boxes arrive from London on Thursday, which I'm very excited about - I haven't seen this stuff since the end of September, and am very anxious for new clothes!



So, this is it. My 6 month sabbatical is over. I'm officially back - job, apartment, and starting to build a life in New York City again. Its crazy when I think of all I've done and everywhere I've been, but am happy now to be be back in real life.

All in all - 115 days away, 55 beds, 10 countries, 10 different currencies (Fiji Dollar, New Zealand Dollar, Australian Dollar, Hong Kong Dollar, Vietnamese Dong, Japanese Yen, Chinese Yuan, Euro, British Pound, US Dollar), every combination of planes, trains, buses, trams, and boats to get around, 7 new airlines, all sorts of new foods, lots of friends, and an all around amazing experience.

France

After Helsinki, I flew to London, which was the end of my around the world ticket. I was heading to France, but couldn't get it to work out, so had to buy a separate ticket. I was in the airport in London for less than 2 hours, yet still managed to cry as the plane took off leaving London. Not good to have started thinking about how I would be leaving London for good 2 weeks later.



I flew to Barcelona, because my destination in France is in in the very south of France, only 20 miles or so north of the border of Spain. I booked a hostel near the train station, of course managing to make my last hostel room the biggest - 22 beds in one room. I had been to Barcelona before, and didn't do or see anything this time, just got up the next morning and got on the 2.5 hour train to France. But in reality, the train stopped in Port Bou, the Spanish town on the border of France, and I had a two hour wait for the next train - so I made the most of it and had a spanish omelet and sangria, sitting outside looking at the ocean. Oh, and in the sun, much warmer than Helsinki! I made it to Collioure, after 2 more trains, but it was worth the effort.



Picture perfect, gorgeous. Collioure is the perfect little French town - complete with a castle, cobblestone streets, cute little houses painted different colors, lots of artists and ice cream stands.



I spent 10 days in Collioure, relaxing, enjoying the beauty of the town and of the ocean, reading, and thinking. It was nice to have down time to prepare for all the changes happening in my life, and not just worrying about which train to take or what place to visit next.





The weather was ok, some beautiful days, but being right on the sea, there was a lot of wind. There were lots of tourists, mostly all French families, as it was school holidays for the kids. I had some good French meals, good ice cream, and crepes. But my favorite part was breakfast every morning, I had a baguette from the bakery as I sat by the water.



I started to feel like a local after a few days - I sat along the castle wall, every day, and everyday a bit further down the wall, there was a guy who played guitar and past him a guy selling wood carvings. It was great and so relaxing.



I spent my first 5 nights in the cheapest room I could find, a tiny room, shared bathroom across the hallway, on the top floor of an old little hotel. It was fine, but I didn't want to spend much time there. I moved for my last 5 nights to a nicer hotel (still barely Red Roof Inn status), on the opposite side of the town, with great views of the castle and lighthouse. When it got too windy and cold, I could sit in the lobby of the hotel and read or even better in my room that had sliding glass doors to a little patio that faced right out to the Mediterranean Sea. And the accountant in me was able to justify the nicer room, because the 5 nights in the crappy room and the 5 nights with the nice view evened out to be right on budget.

Helsinki

So, since I couldn't go to Russia (and didn't want to anymore anyway), I changed my flights while I was in Tokyo. It was a long, long process to decide where to go and then find flights that were allowed in my round the world ticket to get me there. In the end, I was on a FinAir flight from Beijing to Helsinki, then Helsinki to London. Since I'd never been to Finland, I decided to stay for 2 nights.



My first feelings about Helsinki were mixed - first it was COLD. And I wasn't prepared. I basically wore as many layers of clothing as I had. My sunscreen and swimsuit wouldn't help me much here. And I had to give up on my flip flops. I debated buying gloves and a hat, but thought it wasn't necessary and I could survive 2 days. Plus I didn't want to have to carry them. But, when I started wandering around Helsinki, I was suddenly re-energized. It was weird, I was so tired of wandering around, sightseeing in China, but getting to Helsinki, it felt familiar, I no longer felt lost and annoyed, but all excited to explore another European city. It reminded me of places I had been - sometimes Prague, Amsterdam,Copenhagen. So you wouldn't have thought I would be excited to explore, but I think I was just happy to be somewhere I knew I could handle. Even though I was really far north and it was cold in April.



The square in front of the Lutheran cathedral.

But the Russian Orthodox cathedral was much more elaborate inside.

I spent my 2 days in Helsinki just wandering around, visited churches, rode trams (of course going the wrong direction a few times), saw the sites, ate some good, hearty meat & potatoes, sat in coffee shops, and just being happy I was out of Asia.

Even though I still couldn't speak the language, I could handle Finnish much better than Chinese...I didn't actually eat here, but at least I could understand it!

I definitely accumulated stuff...this is me leaving Helsinki.

My week on a construction site

China...was definitely not my favorite stop on the trip. Not that I expected it to be, I had been warned, which is why I was only spending 5 days there in my original plan. When Russia didn't happen, I changed it to a week in China.

I arrived Thursday morning, got on a bus, easy enough, from the airport to a central station about a 25 minute walk from my hostel. Then I was trying to get a bus or a taxi to the hostel, not as easy. The taxi drivers either didn't want to take me or wanted 50 yuan, which is only about $7, but I knew it was way too much (I later took taxis twice as far for 20 on a meter). Finally, after 10 minutes not being able to figure out what to do, and knowing my bag was too heavy to walk, I got into this...thing...the driver was on a motorcycle, and me and my bag were in a little metal enclosure behind him. I was more than a bit concerned, but made it ok, am now just disappointed I didn't get a picture!


I get to the hostel, called the best budget accommodation in town by my bible the Lonely Planet, and the hostel is fine, the street is horrible.

After checking in, I set off to explore the city, heading first for the Temple of Heaven. It looked close enough on the map, yet somehow I walked for ages and never found it. It ended up taking me getting lost 3 times on 3 separate days, each morning I left the hostel to find it, and finally on the 4th day I made it. I was planning to just take a taxi, apparently it would have been less than $3, but by day 4 I was too stubborn and needed to find it myself!

Anyway, day one being lost I ended up wandering through poor alleyways, of course without street signs, or any hope of finding my way. Eventually I get to a main road and after walking another half hour, was never more happy to see the golden arches of McDonald's! Although I know China is a developing country, this was more along the lines of what I expected to find in Beijing.

I did not eat at McDonald's; instead tried to find a Chinese restaurant, but ended up in a Sizzler - the unlimited salad bar was irresistible, when vegetables have been hard to find traveling. I can't remember the last time I ate in a Sizzler, but it was great!

Re-energized, I started walking towards a neighborhood recommended in the guide book. This was when I learned that Beijing really is massive, I guess it is obvious, with 15 million people, but its really not a city you can walk very easily. It took me almost an hour and a half to finally get up to this neighborhood.

The next day, after again not finding the Temple of Heaven, I visited Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. The number of people in Tiananmen Square and lined up to visit the body of Chairman Mao was amazing. Again, I passed at my chance to see a preserved body.

That in Tiananmen Square with the entrance to the Forbidden City behind me.

I had an automatic audio guide tour of the Forbidden City, it would start talking whenever you approached the next sight, instead of having to press in the number like in lots of museums.

The Forbidden City was impressive. Huge, with over 900 buildings, you could spend days touring it. It was packed with Chinese tourists, pushing to get views of the palaces, rooms, and museum-like collections. I loved the names of the buildings, the Hall of Supreme Harmony and the Palace of Heavenly Purity were my favorites.

I visited the Behai park, where I watched families who had rented paddle boats and little motor boats on the lake. It was interesting, many of them 1 child families, with grandparents out for the day with them too. Since there is only one child, each will end up with 6 older relatives, 2 parents and 4 grandparents. And from what I saw in the parks, the grandparents were very involved.

One of the interesting things about China was the kids - they don't wear diapers. Instead, there are slits in the front and back of their pants - as you can see, its wide open! http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-07/16/content_349150.htm

I then decided to be brave and took the bus to the other side of Beijing. I was lucky, and the girl I asked at the bus stop for help, happened to be an accountant (for a Swedish company, fluent in Japanese), learning English, and was excited to help and practice English. The bus system was not easy for non-Chinese speakers. I never did find a bus map and at the bus stops, everything was in Chinese, so I had no idea which bus went where. I only braved it one other time, and wasn't as fortunate in finding someone to help point me in the right direction.

I found a soccer stadium, and was surprised by the restaurant right outside the entrance...

The next morning, after my next attempt at finding the Temple of Heaven, I was about to give up for the day. I was lost, yet again, when I saw a Budweiser sign. I had to stop to think if it would be such a bad thing to give up and just go into the bar for the day (it was only (9:30am), because I just couldn't bear to be lost trying to find another Temple. In the end, I settled for coffee and a long, hard look at the map.

I ended up finding a street of shops, and after lots of bargaining, got some souvenirs, and was feeling better.

Of course I was lost again on my way back, but still set out in the afternoon for the Summer Palace. Similar to the Forbidden Palace, the Summer Palace is unbelievably huge, especially as just a summer residence.

I thought by getting out of Beijing the air would be cleaner, but it wasn't. I hoped the black & white pictures would at least be artist, and hide the glum-ness of it.

This is the 17 Pillar Bridge - very unique name.

The next morning I was up before 6 for a 6:30 bus departure to the Great Wall of China. There are several different parts of the wall you can go on trips, the closest being an hour away, but I heard it is over crowded and mostly re-built. I went further, 3 hours on the bus, to Jinshanling.

There were 4 others on the bus, so we climbed the wall together. We were all disappointed when we arrived to grey skies and rain.

It was still an amazing sight, but the the view wasn't great due to the grey skies. As you can see, it wasn't the most even walkway, and it became slippery in the rain. Luckily I only fell once!

The climb was challenging, lots of steps up and down and somewhat dangerous footing.
I have at least 30 pictures of the Great Wall. At each guard house, the photo opportunity seemed better than the last.

Even though I loved the idea of being on the Great Wall of China, I do have to say I was happy when I realized we reached Simatai, the end of our 4 hour climb. I had had enough. The way down was much more fun!

A zip line across and down! It was the most fun part for me! And not nearly as scary as bungee jumping.

I had arranged to stay overnight at a hostel in Simatai. I was the only one from our van that stayed, but I was very happy I did. In the afternoon, the sun came out and the sight of the Great Wall got even better. And it was also nice to actually just be able to sit, look at it, and think about how amazing it was that I was at the Great Wall of China.

I spent the afternoon on the porch of the hostel with a book, and later a beer. I met the only other 3 people staying at the hostel that night - an Australian guy in his 20's and his parents. They shared some of their big bottles of beer with me and then we went to dinner. They were short on money, thinking that the cost of the hostel was included in the price they paid the tour company, and so were in Simatai, a tiny little village, with no money. It ended up working out for them, and me, since they convinced the restaurant (via hand signals) to give them the local prices for the food. It was a great meal, including a huge plate of dumplings, and about $12 total for the 4 of us. My beer at the hostel was $3, but they managed to get the same bottle of beer for 70 cents.

The next morning, after breakfast on the porch, still loving the view of the Great Wall, I walked back up to the wall. It was a clearer day, so I could see much further than the day before, and I just climbed up to the 2nd guard house. And then of course took the zip line down again!

Back in Beijing that night, I went for Peking Duck with a mother & daughter I met in the hostel, and a Chinese friend of theirs. Afterwards, we visited the night market, and practiced some more bargaining. We each got a Buddha statue for 30 yuan, when the seller started at 240 each. We just kept walking away, refusing to pay more. Sometimes bargaining is fun, but I just found this annoying that they were starting with prices so ridiculously high.

That's me about to eat a scorpion. Why, I'm not sure really. Tara had one and then there were 3 left on the stick, so I figured why not?! It was just crunchy really, and actually with good spices. But definitely not my new favorite food.

Everything comes on a stick!

The next morning I set out on my next adventure, to the village of Chuandixia, a traditional village. The tour book said that this village was worth the journey to get there. It is possible to arrange tours, but I didn't know anyone else to go with me, so decided to be adventurous (or stupid) and go on my own. Chuandixia is known for how much of the ancient village is still preserved. I took the subway as far as I could and then debated between taking the bus or a taxi. After asking lots of people to point me in the right direction, and lots of debating with a taxi driver who wanted to take me, I got into a taxi for the hour and a half drive to the village.

One of the first sights as I explored the village- a donkey carrying bricks up the hill to build a house.

It was true that the village was very historic, didn't look like much had changed, in, well ever. I walked around looking for somewhere to have lunch, but the place was dead, there was no one to be seen. I asked one man where I could get lunch (of course with hand signals), but had to give up after he walked me into the kitchen and his wife just pointed at vegetables and a Chinese menu.

I had planned on spending the night in this village, but quickly realized it wasn't such a good idea. After exploring for only 45 minutes, I decided I should start figuring out how I would get back to Beijing. I was very happy to find that my taxi driver had not left yet. He took me back to Beijing and I checked back into the same hostel again, disappointed with the village, but figuring at least I went and saw it.

Wednesday, still yet to see the Temple of Heaven, and still refusing to take a taxi, I set off and finally walked the right direction and found it. Not sure it was really worth the days of trying to get there, but it was impressive.

I went to find the Olympic Stadium, took the subway to the nearest stop and then it was a 30 minute walk. Like I said, Beijing is huge! I finally got to the stadium, it is still under construction, and the air quality is horrible. It should be interesting to see how it is when the Olympics are there. But, it was funny to see a TGI Fridays next to the stadium and a Subway across the street!

The next morning I left early for the airport, not overly disappointed my time in China was over. It was interesting to see, but definitely a challenge to get around. The air was bad, and the construction everywhere was unpleasant. The Great Wall was amazing, and well worth the trip. I'm sure there are other interesting places to visit in China, but I'll save them for another trip.

Kyoto & Nara

I spent my day in Kyoto sightseeing. I got a bus pass for 500 yen, which is $5, and set out for the Golden Temple. The bus was packed, mostly with Japanese tourists. I decided to be adventurous and not get off where everyone else did for the famous Golden Temple, but instead would go find another, less known one first. Bad plan, of course I get lost. I get on the right bus, but going the wrong direction. And because in Japan they don't seem to bother with street signs too often, it took me until I was almost back in town to figure this out.











This is the bus schedule, you see my problem - I got on the number 5, that was about all I understood from this sign







So instead of my morning at a temple, I ended up at Nija Castle, touring the grounds and various rooms and of course temples too.







Then I made my way back to the Golden Temple, this time getting off at the right stop with everyone else. You can't go in, but a beautiful sight from outside.

I then headed for another temple, Ryon-Ji, known for its Zen rock garden. Me, in super sightsee-er mode walked right by the garden, wondering why everyone was sitting there. I thought I had learned this lesson in Australia, to always ask what people are looking for, but no, I walked right by it and then had to do a full loop and come back in once I realized it. Maybe you can see how I missed it...

I then took 2 buses and made my way back to Gion, for my 2nd attempt at spotting a Geisha: The night before had been entirely unsuccessful, mostly as I discovered on day two, because I was on the wrong narrow street. I was starting to lose hope, after all I hadn't had much luck in finding living creatures where I expected them to be in the past weeks. But then I spotted one, of course going the other direction. I tried to catch up, able to move more quickly than she in the wooden sandals, but trying not to be too obvious. I catch her and get a (bad) photo, but was then horribly embarrassed for being so touristy.

Luckily, the next day, as I visited even more temples, there were several geishas out, and posing for pictures, so there was no chasing required.

I visited a few more temples, bought a Buddha named the God of Business Success at one, you never know, it could help me find a job?? Found the Ginkaku-Ji, or Silver Pavilion and walked along the Path of Philosophy, with lots of cherry blossoms.

View of Kyoto - I like the new city mixed in with the old temples.

Then I got my backpack and got on a train for 40 minutes to Nara. I checked in to my ryokan, a traditional style Japanese hotel. This was my most expensive accommodation yet (though still only $45), and while I did have my own room, the bed is a cushion on a straw mat on the floor, with shared bathrooms. It was comfortable enough and fun for a change. The paper walls weren't great for quiet, but still ok.

The next day I set out on foot to explore, I had heard about the deer in Nara, but still was surprised when I saw them.

All around the parks, there are deer, apparently safe and revered as messengers of god. I think I saw kids bow to them more than once, but won't swear to that! But they just wander free, and beware if you have any type of food, they will come for it!
Todai-Ji - hall of the great Buddha, the largest wooden building in the world; apparently. And the pretty cherry blossoms.

This is not the great buddha, one of the smaller statues beside the great Buddha, but a better picture! The big one was too big to even capture really.

Meals in Japan were my biggest struggle. There weren't a lot of English menus and places that catered to tourists tended to have fake plastic food out front, which never looked appetizing and I would decide not to go in. I still managed to eat of course, and in the end found some good food, and great gyoza (dumplings).

This is the street of my ryokan. Nara is a small-ish town, so a much different feel to Tokyo; Not what I imagined as a Japanese street.

Tokyo

So Japan was a welcome change after the insanity of Hanoi. It was strange to think of Tokyo even as quiet and empty. Of course this was only certain parts, and I found the hoards of people later, but refreshing none the less. And the craziest part, especially after Vietnam where motorbikes are coming at you all the time from every direction, is that in Japan, you don't ever cross the street until the green man in the crosswalk sign says its ok. No cars coming for miles and everyone still waits. Amazing.

There is something I love about exploring a city on my own. Wandering the streets, going wherever I choose, discovering new things that I let myself believe no one else in history has ever seen. But it gets boring when there is no one to tell what you've found. In Tokyo I had the best of both worlds. I was lucky enough to stay with a couple I knew from the Merrill office in London who moved to Tokyo 18 months ago. Cliona met me when I got off the bus from the airport, we dropped off my things at the flat, she gave me a tour book, a quick orientation (with important facts like my ATM card would only work at citibank), and then left me at a Starbucks to plan my day while she went into work.

I spent the day sightseeing - visited the Imperial Palace, though you can only walk around the grounds, it is a park about the same size as Central Park. Conveniently enough, due to no planning on my part, my visit to Japan coincided with the cherry blossom season. It was beautiful, cherry blossoms everywhere, and apparently they only last about a week, so really my timing was perfect.

Outside the Imperial Palace

I then headed to a viewing deck on the 43rd floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan building, disappointed that the sun had disappeared and I couldn't see to Mount Fuji.After being lost and wandering in circles for a few hours, I gave up on the idea of a traditional lunch and went into Subway (filled with Japanese people, but I ordered the same Subway club I do everywhere.) I finally made my way to Shinjuku, where I found all the people. And all the electronics. Phones and camera galore. I found what I thought was my camera, only a few months old, but it was one at least a few models ahead. But I didn't buy anything.

One of my favorite findings was the Krispy Kreme donut shop - there was a massive line in front, and another along the side. I sat and watched for a bit trying to figure out why so many people would stand in line for a donut - they were getting a free one in line (which was tempting), but then all coming out with dozens. I found out later that apparently Krispy Kreme is new in Tokyo, and is like that all the time, the Japanese are willing to wait as long as it takes to have one of whatever is the newest trend.

Had dinner that night with Cliona, after her long day of work and my long day of being lost. We went to a great, tiny local Yakatori place and ordered an assortment of skewers - chicken, meat, veggie. Dessert was brought for free, very odd bean thing, that didn't taste bad, but had the texture of baked beans. Then we went into Don Quijote, a huge 6 or 7 floor store with the strangest assortment of items - a big discount store really, but with a lot of uniquely Japanese things.

Friday I stopped at a bakery and picked up a few things for breakfast. No English signs, so just had to guess what would be good - they were ok, but the one I thought was cheese, was actually some sort of mixture with corn and another had some sort of meat filling. I walked through Ginza, checking out the expensive boutique stores (windows) and watching everyone on their lunch hour in the park. I took a tour of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, which was interesting. I visited a temple where couples come to pray for children. There were lots of parents bringing their babies back for pictures in front of the temple. Tokyo Stock Exchange

I then went to Shibuya, and had to take back what I was thinking about the quiet, empty streets of Tokyo. It is a major crossing, where you can cross in every direction, including diagonal at the same time (like at Villanova, just about 1000x the number of people!)

Shibuya is a popular place for teenagers, and it was great people watching, especially for the clothes the girls were wearing. I took the escalators up to the 8th floor of one of the big shopping malls, taking it all in as I went up. I decided to be brave and ordered just by pointing to the picture on the menu. It worked, it was good, but I didn't find out until after I ordered that I was actually in a Korean restaurant. Not a bad thing, but I was trying to get local Japanese food!

On my way back to the flat, walked to Omotesando, another shopping district, though very different to Shibuya. Went into Kiddy Land, another huge 6 story shop with all sorts of fun Japanese things - any sort of accessory for your mobile, your dog, etc.

That night we went back to Shibuya to see it at night with all the lights. The journey took about one tenth of the time with someone who knew where she was going.

Saturday I finally accepted that I needed to figure out where I would spend my last 2 weeks, now that the Trans-Mongolian is not happening. I had been waiting to see what I felt like doing at the time and trying not to have everything too planned out. But I was worried about arriving in China without a ticket to prove I was leaving again. I emailed my travel agent with my new plan, he assured me it would be easy, and then I spent 2 hours in the Japan Airlines office trying to make the changes. After the 3 staff who were trying to come up with something deliberated for an hour, they informed me that there decision is that I should just keep my itinerary as it is and fly out of St Petersburg on the 26th of April. Of course, that is not an option as Russia won't have me, so it was back to the drawing board again...or literally the map. I started just pointing to places in Asia that looked like there were One World Alliance flights from that went to Europe and asking where it was and if I could go there. Not a lot of luck - I had two problems, one not being able to go over the total mileage allowed on my ticket (so couldn't fly via Hong Kong) and being on a low seating class that was all booked on flights for weeks.

In the end, I left with no plan and spent a few hours on the computer myself trying to come up with something. See, its not all so easy not working and traveling! Still no luck, and on Sunday I went back and after another 2 hours, had a flight Beijing, via Helsinki. Since the plane was going there anyway, I decided I´d stay for 2 nights.

After my hours with the airlines, I met Ruairi and Cliona in Asakusa, where it seemed like everyone in Tokyo had gathered to enjoy the cherry blossoms - people were everywhere, set up for the day with elaborate picnics.

Picnics in the park...and the man wearing his mask

Lots of interesting food options, I did not try one!

In front of the temple at Asakusa

We had lunch at a ramen shop, ordered by pressing the button and putting money into a vending machine (after the girl managed to translate what we wanted).

Ruairi looking suitably confused trying to order from the machine

Enjoying my ramen

We then walked through a massive electronics store, literally anything you wanted they had thousands - pianos were the most random item, I thought. But the place was packed with people. Apparently I was there a day early, because Sunday it is even crazier, with the sales people jumping out at you to make you buy and all the teenagers dressed in costumes.

Saturday night we went out in Roppongi to some cute tiny bars and had dinner at an izakaya style, bar that serves food.

Trying sake...of course

Sunday morning laying in bed I felt everything move, I didn't believe it, but it really was an earthquake! That afternoon we headed for a not-so-Japanese meal at a Hawaiian hamburger restaurant, that was packed with Japanese! And then after my 2 hours at the airlines office, I got on the Shinkansen, better known at home as the bullet train, that goes up to 300km per hour. It was a quick 2 hour trip to Kyoto, now dark, so I didn't get to see anything. I was surprised when I walked into the smoking carriage-surprised there is still such a thing on the train.