Takayama to Tokyo

Our bus trip from Takayama to Tokyo took us about 6 hours. A beautiful ride mostly through the mountains. We had 3 stops at rest stops for bathroom breaks and to pick up something to eat. The train would have taken nearly the same amount of time and cost us about 3 times the cost of the bus so it was a good decision for us to take the bus. We also saw some monkeys at one spot as we went through the mountains.

We arrived at Shinjuku bus station which is right beside the train station. At this point we split up with Heather. She is staying in the Ueno area where we stayed at the beginning of our trip in Tokyo and we were staying in Shinjuku. We shared our plans for this evening in case Heather wanted to join us.

We checked into our hotel, it was about 10 minutes before 3 and they nearly made us wait until 3 to check in but lucky for us they opened up a line and let us check in. We are at an APA hotel again and this time we are in a slightly bigger room and we are able to put our suitcases under the bed, at this point even 1 foot of extra space makes it feel like a suite.

We decided to go look once more for cherry blossoms. We thought we may have missed the peak but turns out we were lucky and got one more good day in. Not far from Shinjuku station is Shinjuku Gyoen Park. This is another beautiful park right inside the city. A nice lake, a Japanese garden section, and over 1,500 cherry trees that are still beautiful. Quite a few blossoms are now on the ground, but still so very pretty. We also see some beautiful azaleas starting to bloom, in a couple of weeks they are going to be fantastic.

We are wandering around looking for some souvenirs and came across a sushi train spot. We have wanted to do one of these all month but never got around to it, so glad we happened across this. It was a little early for supper but that also meant no line ups. These places have plates with sushi going around a train track on plates with different colors, depending on the color of plate you pick is the amount you are charged for the plate. You stack up all your plates and pay at the end when you are done. Andre made a slight mistake thinking green tea powder was wasabi, nope did not go well with the soya sauce. They had a tap of boiling water every couple of feet that you could make your own green tea with this powder. This plate payment can get dangerous if you always pick the fancy plate, but there are lots of options for inexpensive as well. We had no idea what some of the things were going by, we had a menu with pictures, but it was hard to figure them out. A fun experience and a great dinner, happy we found it. When we finished dinner there was quite a long line up to get in, glad we are here early.

We walked around a little then headed off to our next plan that we didn't do the last time was to see the light show at the Metropolitan Government Building, and also go up the observation tower at night. Every 30 minutes there is a show projected on the outside of the building. There is a grassy area outside that people sit of lie down on to watch and a few benches. Luckily we got a bench and watched one show which was great. We watched part of the second show the next half hour then saw the line up to go to the observation deck wasn't so bad so headed up for the views. It is really pretty up there at night. We had been up during the daylight when we first got here last month but really wanted to do it at night. This is all free so we took advantage of it. Enjoyed the view from the 45^th floor I think it was and then made our way back down to catch the rest of one of the projections again. Back to our hotel again after another good day.

Steps 21,685 / 13.5kms

Foggy this morning, View or non view of the mountains from the living room

Leaving Takayama, at a car dealership. Things are clean here

From the bus.

The ski hill next to the first bus stop

Saw 2 monkeys, got a quick shot of the second one

One part of the drive followed a dam, the water was a nice green color

narrow road along some parts

At the second stop, yes they eat horse meat

Lots of beverage choices

Found an ice cream

The blossoms along the way

An area had lots of orchards, may have been apples

They have mechanical man waving his arm

At the 3rd stop, lots of KitKat choices and a few food trucks

At the Shinjuku station. Lots of tracks

On the way to the hotel

Out exploring after checking in

Wedge shaped building

Bags of rice, maybe

First time we have seen garbage like this. I don't think we are staying in the best area of Tokyo

Visiting Shinjuku Gyoen Park to find more cherry blossoms

Japanese garden part of the park

Crabapple tree

love all the pedals in the water

So many blossoms have fallen, makes for beautiful ground covering

azaleas are just coming out

Back near the train station to do a bit of shopping, now at rush hour

7 floor department store

So much neon in this area

Sushi for supper, conveyor belt. Pick what you want

Full house

Lots of people out for supper now

The Metropolitan Government Building 

Views from the Metropolitan Government Building Observation deck

Views from the Metropolitan Government Building Observation deck

Second projections

On the way home, Some type of reception was finishing with Chinese lanterns floating to the ceiling

Across the street from the hotel, Don Quijote. A low price department/souvenir store