Day 17: Trains, Ueno Park and Home

Friday morning, we finished packing up our stuff and headed out to Ueno Park. But first we had to stop at the park by our guest house one last time.

We also went by the Shimogoinden Train Museum, which is really just a viewing platform by Nippori Station where you can watch trains including bullet trains go by.

Pictures of some of the different types of trains.

A bullet train!

Two bullet trains in a row. Next time we go to Japan, everyone definitely wants to go on a bullet train.

The kids also liked these "double-decker" trains.

Another bathroom sign asking you to please put toilet paper in the toilet.

After stowing our luggage in some lockers, we went to Ueno Park. It is a huge park home to many museums and temples. 

We enjoyed listening to the woman play on the ocarina while we ate a snack.  She had several for multiple pitch ranges.

We visited the Tokyo National Museum. The museum is HUGE! and consists of a series of buildings showcasing many displays. We didn't have a lot of time here but enjoyed seeing what we could.

Nice tapestry of a samurai.

An old sword.  This is just the hilt and scabbard.  They separated out the blades.

Some more weapons.  The bows they would use were really large.

Another sword.  Here you can see just the blade.  Japanese blades were some of the strongest in the world because of the way they made them.

Engraving on the above sword.

Samurai armor.  A lot of it was woven together, not a lot of metal.  

Some examples of fancy traditional Japanese clothing.  This is a man's outfit.

This is a woman's kimono.

There were many beautiful examples of Japanese art on screens and wall hangings.

Outside, there was a traditional Japanese home.

Another stone lantern in a park.

The kids enjoying playing a bit at the playground.

We rode our train to the airport.  Taking pictures from the train is never easy.

This is what the United area of the airport looks like when its systems are down. We are very thankful that we checked in online ahead of time and that a nice agent printed our boarding passes for us so that we didn't have to wait in these lines!

Our plane to take us to San Francisco. The sun was setting as we took off. I definitely saw Mt. Fuji. It was really beautiful with the dark cone contrasting with the orange of the sun as it set. I tried to get a picture but didn't have enough time.

Sarah and Megan on the plane. For some reason, this flight didn't have personal entertainment devices in the seat backs and the in flight entertainment on the big screens had technical issues. Sure glad we had our tablets with us!

U and Matthew sat behind us.

Dinner wasn't great but people really liked the dessert!

I often reminisce about things, saying "Yesterday at this time...." or "Last week at this time...." It was fun that for the rest of this day, I could say "Today at this time...." and then say whatever it was we were doing in Tokyo at that time. It was the longest day of my life (40 hours). It sure was an amazing trip!

Day 16: Tokyo Tower

Our next stop was Tokyo Tower. Matthew really wanted to go here because Tokyo Mater races to the top of Tokyo Tower when he is drag king.

On our way, we saw some more MarioKarts.

Along with their drivers.

We went to the 150 m viewing platform (upper platform was closed for renovations) for some nice views of the city.

My favorite view was towards Odaiba, Rainbow Bridge and the ferris wheel, which was all lit up and changing into lots of cool patterns.

They had a photo opportunity with a mini Tokyo Tower.

They also had a Halloween area with lots of costumes.

Of course, we had to take advantage of that!

Sarah and Megan liked riding on the middle section of the subway.

We got some treats on the way home. The kids were real troopers--it was after 10 by the time we got back to the guest house.

Day 16: Boat ride, Odaiba

Our next stop was Odaiba, a man made island in Tokyo Bay. We took the Hotaluna, a cool looking boat, which won points with the kids. It was nice to see Tokyo from the water.

U and Matthew with a sumo minifigure at the boat depot. (Odaiba has a Legoland Discovery Center.)

Some interesting looking buildings in the Asakusa area.

Tokyo Skytree.

Me, Matthew and Sarah rode at the very front of the boat.

Megan and U.

We saw lots of different boats on the water.

A digger!

Once we got past some of the shorter bridges, they put up some railings so we could go up top and see the city from there.

Nice view of Tokyo looking towards Asakusa.

Sarah and Matthew with Rainbow Bridge and Odaiba in the distance.

Me with Megan sleeping on my lap as seen from outside. She slept pretty much the whole way!

Matthew with Rainbow Bridge spanning most the screen and Odaiba slightly to the left.

Panoramic.

Full view of our boat. At night, the boats lit up which was really pretty.

Everyone enjoyed Odaiba. The kids liked running around and exploring. The Maritime Museum was a bit underwhelming because, while we knew the main museum was closed, the ships that you were supposed to be able to tour were not there. We did enjoy exploring the annex building a little and watching cartoons in Japanese about ships.

Sarah practicing her meditation.

Me with Megan and Matthew in the background. You can see that there are lots of good places to run around.

Fun little play area. Sarah liked balancing on the metal ball.

Matthew wanted to balance on the ball too.

Sarah is taller than the Statue of Liberty!

So is Matthew!

Megan was really excited to see this replica of the Statue of Liberty as it reminded her of preschool and learning the Pledge of Allegiance.

Matthew gave U a shoulder ride for a bit.

Japanese flag.

Festive cones. There were a lot of Halloween decorations around Tokyo.

There were lots of cargo ships as well.

Fun park the kids played at for a bit.

The supervisor.

Ice cream vending machines. You really can get a lot of stuff from vending machines in Japan.

"Life sized" Gundam statue.

We went on the Daikanransha, a 115 m ferris wheel at Palette Town in Odaiba. We went in a blue car. It was really pretty to see the city especially as we saw the city lights coming on.

Me with the kids.

U.

A view over part of Odaiba.

Toyota Mega Web where people can test drive cars.

City view of Tokyo with Tokyo Tower in the middle. Notice that the city lights are just starting to come on. (Note that it gets dark really early in Tokyo--around 5 or so when we were there. It also get light early--before 6.)

That ferris wheel in the background is from Tokyo Disneyland. It was fun to see it!

The ferris wheel was quite pretty, especially at night as it was all lit up and the colors on the spokes made different designs.

View from a bit farther away.

"Dusky" view of Tokyo Tower from Odaiba.

Rainbow Bridge with Tokyo in the background.

They were some sort of event here. Megan and Matthew wanted in on the photo opportunity.

We ate dinner at a Japanese Italian restaurant overlooking Tokyo Bay. We enjoyed looking at the city lights including Tokyo Tower and Rainbow Bridge. The food was ok although not as Japanese as U would have liked. But since the kids really hadn't eaten ramen well the night before, we decided to get them something they'd eat better. We did have a yummy seafood sampler appetizer plate.

Statue of Liberty with Rainbow Bridge behind.

They really had a lot of lights all over Odaiba. It was quite pretty.

We rode the monorail over Rainbow Bridge to get back to the main part of Tokyo. Megan and Matthew appreciated having a great view and looked out the windows the entire way.