New Places in Tokyo - Part 3

At a new station on our way to Koishikawa Korakuen Garden

Once again, with new guests we make stops at new places.  At the Meiji Shrine we decide to visit the Inner Garden.  There is a pond with lotus blossoms - you have arrive in the morning if you want to see them blooming!

Pretty!

 We take a rest stop, and are visited by some feathered friends. 

I feel like Snow White!

I wonder how he'd taste after cooking on my grill.

We finally make our way to the well, the most famous spot in the garden.  It's supposed to be a place where you can feel positive energy.  It became famous after some tv programs featured it with people claiming their luck improved after they used pictures of the well as a background for their cellphones.  Sounds like those tv shows that are on at 3:00 am in the US...  I do like the English translation on the sign by the well: "This well is famous for the ingenious way of sinking and the superiority of water's quality."  I'm not able to figure out what is ingenious about the sinking quality of the water.

Maybe I should put this as my cellphone background, just in case!

I'm glad we only signed up for 30 minutes!

Speaking of water, Steve's been dying to try the pedal boats in the moat around the Imperial Palace.  One very hot morning we go out.  During sakura season the area is covered with cherry blossoms - it's very pretty in the pictures.  I think you have to enter a lottery to get a ticket for the boats during that time.







Steve and I decide we'll go to the end of the moat to see what's there.  It's a nice view of a guard tower.

the end of the moat

Peddle boat selfie!

Naturally we stop for refreshments, and a taste of the US!  Krispy Kreme is in Tokyo.

Yummy!

We also try out the Escape Hunt Experience.  You are "locked" in a room for 60 minutes and have to find clues and solve a mystery.  We all play the Samurai Espionage, though we split into two teams (they have two different rooms set up with the same puzzle).  None of us are able to figure it out without help from our guide.  However, it's a fun way to spend some time in an air conditioned area (and it's in English, too).  This is the same company that created the Underground Mystery game that we liked so much.

I think we've exhausted our guests!  Mini-naps are taken at the Great Burger...which does have really great burgers!

Dreaming of sugarplums...or burgers?

Dreaming of a white Christmas?

The girls get to party one night in Tokyo, as the adults go off for a kaiseki dinner.  We never did hear the whole story of what they did...

We clean up nice!

pretty restaurant garden

We experience a little of Europe by visiting the Renoir exhibit at the National Art Center.  You have to love it when you can walk from your apartment to a major art museum in less than 15 minutes.

I am too cute!

Emily has fallen in love with Marutaro, the most popular dog on Instagram (something like 2 million followers!).  He lives in Tokyo, and we search for him, but unfortunately we can't find him.  Five days after our visit to Sensoji Temple, he's there - we just missed him!







Another evening we decide to stay in and watch a movie.  It's appropriate though, since we chose Memoirs of a Geisha.  Tie-Dye is tired of hearing about this other dog, and he makes sure everyone gives him lots of attention!

Steve, can you put the camera down and get us some popcorn?