Last train from Tokyo

We're on the Shinkansen now, the bullet train, on our way from Tokyo to Kyoto (same letters...coincidence? I don't think so.) It moves pretty fast.

We are definitely ready to leave Tokyo. It is a really busy place, with way too many shops and lights, and lots of people. Lots and lots of everything, really. We both had the thought that out of all the places we've been, some of us more places than others, Tokyo is one place that we wouldn't want to live.
I just don't feel like I would like it very much.

The place we stayed was really nice, in a cool little neighbourhood, and that was a good thing. I'm sure we could have stayed places that were in much more hectic areas.

I have to say that I'm pretty ready for some good ol' American food - whatever the hell that is. Seeing as how I don't eat fish (though Miriam does) or meat, there's not a heck of a lot to eat. Yes, yes, there is tofu in all it's glorious forms, but most places for the most part are fish and meat. Even this morning at Tokyo Station while waiting for the train, I wanted to get some pizza, and it all had meat.

So - what did we do yesterday...hm.
We woke up earlyish, as we've been doing, me a bit earlier than Miriam, and rode our bikes (big up to Miriam, because I didn't want to rent them but she pushed for it-best idea ever) to the Imperial Palace, hoping to ride through them. It was drizzling on and off, but it really didn't bother us at all. We finally found the palace and discovered that riding bikes in the gardens is not allowed, so we parked them and walked in. Again, after a pretty short time, I felt done there - it just didn't impress me in the ways that I had hoped. It seems that every thing we saw had been destroyed...if that makes any sense.

Here's a pic Miriam taking a picture of a Japanese couple:

And the Palace Moat:

After the Imperial Palace, we parked our bikes - not locking them to anything, just leaving them on the sidewalk with no fear of them being stolen, which is very very cool - at Otomachi Station and took a couple trains down to Akasaka, in search of a highly recommended sushi place. We're pretty sure we found it, and Miriam definitely loved the sushi. The chefs were very cool, greeting everyone who walked in the door with a loud "irassimase!!"



After lunch, and quick Subway sandwich stop - don't hate me, sushi places don't have much for a veg like me - we headed down to Shibuya to check out this huge store that Lonely Planet said we should see. They do seem to recommend a lot of shopping, I have to say. And their maps suck.

The store is Tokyu Hands, and it is 7 or 8 floors of absolutely everything you could ever want, or not want. Shibuya is an absolutely exhausting area of lights, noise, music, people and more of everything. I don't understand how the Japanese don't go freaking insane in these places.

Here's a tag on a bag we saw. Please feel free to make sense of it:

Oh yeah, I found out I'm a monster. My feet have been killing me from the shoes I brought, and so I went to try and get a new pair. I wanted a pretty standard pair of hiking shoes, lowtops, waterproof - you know the kind. We went into a bunch of different shops, some in the Sporting Good district - there's another funny thing; districts for very specific things - and was told that no store carries shoes in my massive size of 11. Everytime I would check out a pair of shoes, I would ask for my size (Eur 45, or 28.5CM) and would get a curious stare in return. Then a slow shaking of the head. I had hoped to find a novelty store or a clown supply place that maybe could accomodate me, but no luck. Or maybe display pieces for a shoe store, that would have some grotequely huge shoes, the ones that people stare at and say, "wow." I bet they would have been a perfect fit.

So, after Shibuya, we heading back to Otomachi, picked up the bikes and rode back to our ryokan in Asakusa. The bikes were returned (again, best idea ever!)
Us returning our bikes:

We napped for a while, and found a restaurant for dinner in the guidebook. We both were craving Italian, even though we had planned on hitting up some veggie place. We also wanted to end up in Shinjuku (that crazy hectic place in Lost in Translation) for drinks at some bar way up on top of a really tall building.) We found an Italian chain restaurant, Capricciosa's, or something like that, that was supposed to be "reliable" and headed down.

Shinjuku is very crazy. Even crazier than other places in Tokyo, if that's possible. Which it is, so just shut up.
The restaurant is in the basement of Zara, the clothing store. Which brings me to another crazy thing - bars and restaurants on high floors, and in basements of buildings. Just something not so common where we come from.

Boy this train is going fast. The mountains are really beautiful, too. Someone remind me to find out just how fast it goes, topspeed, etc. It's cool when it tilts going into turns.

We sat down to eat, and luckily sat next to a couple of English guys. You'll see why. We checked out the menu, and decided on what we wanted. Somehow we started talking to them, and one of them mentioned that on the back of the menu, it said what is in each dish, in case we were vegetarian. Well, it was only in Japanese, so he translated. It turned out that even the simple pastas we wanted were loaded with meats and fish (remember above about that?) and he helped us choose stuff to eat. The pasta turned out to be not bad, the wine was truly terrible, but the abundance of parmasan cheese helped everything along.

After dinner, we walked to the Keiyo Palace Hotel, and went to the Polestar Skybar, way up on the 45th floor. It was quite elegant, with chairs being pulled out, 50's haircuts on the staff, and Miriam being followed to the bathroom. Where they waited for her to come out, and escorted her back. Huh.
The drinks were expensive, but the view was ridiculous. My ears popped on the way down in the elevator.

A long subway ride home, crowded with people even late at night - though not too too late, cause the trains stop running at midnight, and back to the ryokan for the final night.

On the way home, we saw this door, in the middle of the train station. It goes to another dimension.


Got up this morning, packed, cab-ed it to the train station, and onto the Shikansen. Which is where are now.

Ah.