Day 2 - Asakusa Tokyo

Woke up insanely early 4:30am, no such luck having a great sleep after our late night. Ueno wss our destinatiob for today. So after a 7-11 breakfast (love the pancakes and choc chip breadsticks) we headed on the subway. In 10mins we were at Ueno station. It was very much decked out in sakura. We were there for 9am opening of JR and exchanged passes and booked some trains. (Tomorrow's journey to odawara – for Hakone is full so we will try non-reserved) we then went to Ueno park with everybody else! Cherry blossums are out and hanami is in. We then visited the zoo. The panda were sleeping, but the kids really loved the place. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be given some reports. It was large and open, though some enclosures were small. My kids loved it there – and reading the map to find the animals (thanks Dora). After that we ventured down ameyoko streets. Bit markets/chinatown, not really my kind of place, but it was packed. The we came back to Asakusa for a power nap. Repacked and taqbin our bags to Osaka, as we go light for our next night in gora. After they were sent away at the 7-11. We were off to meet my friend who stayed with me 26yrs ago for 3 weeks as an exchange student. We met up last year for the first time, this year we had a wonderful with her family again in Asakusa. After that we strolled to sumida park where the sakura were illuminated and hanami was happening. Tomorrow we head to Hakone.Read more