Wednesday May 9, last day in Tokyo

As forecast it was raining this morning, not heavy and drenching, but enough to be annoying and to need a raincoat or umbrella. And it was COLD! About 11° so was very grateful I put my down jacket in at the last minute. When we first arrived and it was in the high 20s I wouldn’t have dreamed I’d need it! It also was meant to clear up around midday.

So we set off, just staying round Shinjuku today....there is so much we haven’t seen. While the weather was bad we looked in shops a bit, and wandered around different parts and admired the many amazing huge modern buildings...tried to go up to the observation deck in the Sumitomo building, but couldn’t find the entrance...maybe they thought no one would want to observe today...actually there was some construction and probably it’s off for the moment. Anyway, we had fun, and finally the drizzle stopped. We had waited as we wanted to visit the Shinjuku Gyoen National garden, and it was perfect timing!

The gardens looked so fresh after the rain, and the light was lovely - cloudy bright...I took many art shots! And there were not very many people of course. Perfect! It is a huge area, with a Japanese traditional garden, a French formal garden, an English landscape garden and a mother and child’s forest. All is just beautifully done and maintained of course, in true Japanese style. The Japanese garden is the serene, manicured area with bridges and ponds and trees that are artistically pruned. Then we came upon the French garden - it has an avenue of sycamore trees on each side surrounding a formal rose garden, and right now the roses are in luxuriant bloom!! So lucky, just beautiful. I think what they call the English landscape is lovely lawns and trees, and there was also a huge and beautifully and artistically arranged greenhouse. So that was a great couple of hours.

Then we returned via Blue Bottle - everyone knows Amr there now, he is always greeted by all the staff! - had a small bite to eat, and a little shopping in UniQlo and I have come back to the room, while Amr continued in the shops and has texted to me that he has found a Hokkaido food fair and is having fun!

Off to Kyoto on the Shinkansen tomorrow - a new experience!Leggi altro