Posted by Today I woke up fairly early and did yoga and my leg workout (later this will prove to be a mistake).
Today is the day that I would get to see cherry blossoms in the daylight, so off I went to Ueno park. What I wasn’t quite expecting were the massive crowds.
And I really hate crowds…I can’t express how much I hate them…but for some reason, it wasn’t so bad…I think the fact that the crowd was always moving helped. Ueno was beautiful…I’ll have to come during a time when it is less busy.
The part that made me most happy was the crowds of people that were sitting there having picnics underneath the trees…if I had friends here I would love to do this.
I thought it was beautiful…the community of everyone underneath the trees and enjoying the company of their friends I love it!
After I got my fill of this I was off to Yoyogi park. My big goal today was to travel cheaply so I focused on ONLY riding JR Line rails, even if it took a bit longer. It’s only Day 2…I can’t go off and blow ¥1000 a day on transportation. After getting off the train I realized the time and it was definitely time to eat! One of the things I’ve mentioned in past travels to Japan was vending machine food…no, it isn’t what you’re thinking. You are getting a ticket for the food from a vending machine, so after you’ve paid, hand the ticket to the chef/cook and they will prepare your food and hand it to you. It is great if you are in a hurry or just don’t want to sit and wait. This is also a really cheap way to eat, I paid ¥410 for a bowl of soba.
As I was walking towards Yoyogi park I passed this interesting store, a place where you sing a song and get a free cookie…hahaha…the line was obscene but interesting, so I bookmarked that as a place to come back to before I leave. It is located right across from Harajuka Station.
I stopped at the Meiji Shrine and this is a lovely walk through the park…though, the birds sound really weird…the thought I had was, “Who taught these birds to caw?” seriously, it was weird sounding…
And I saw this beauty…a wall of sake that is given as offering to Emperor Meiji…I love Japanese history, it is so interesting. Asian culture has always fascinated me because of the emphasis on respect.
I finally made it to Yoyogi park and I saw this great crepe food truck and I am so proud, my very first Japanese phrase, 2５ばn を ください (Number 25, please) Yeah…I was pretty thrilled! This crepe had banana, toasted almond, delicious and light whipped cream, and chocolate sauce.
I also saw street performers to the entry of the park which I found really fascinating…it was a group of men, women, and children dancing…weirdly, the electric slide, but okay.
After all of this I went back to the hotel to rest for a bit and headed off to dance…and THAT was a huge mistake. My knee, though I felt like it was a bit delicate but on the mend, I messed it up again by doing way too much, with the walking, stairs, work out, and dancing. 😦 So I’m going to do my best to ice it as much as possible, but damn…I always over do it.
My dinner was super cheap as I just grabbed some stuff from the convenience store. I’ll work on eating more awesome things through out the next two weeks 🙂
Few tips before I end this entry:
- Walk to the left unless otherwise specified
- When you are on the escalator stand to the left (unless you’re in Osaka, why they do it differently there I don’t know). You wouldn’t believe the number of annoying tourists I saw taking up the whole escalator step or standing to the right whenever EVERYONE else is standing to the left. Just…some awareness of your surrounding would be awesome random tourists 😛
- I’ve noticed, for the most part, tax is included so you pretty much know how much to pay when you check out
Natalie Journeys 