Day 3 – Tokyo to Nara

This morning we woke up a little after 4:00am – our jet lag is getting better, slowly. Once again I caught up on our blog and looked through pictures while Alison was dedicated and did some Pilates this morning. I figure I am getting plenty of exercise with the walking we have done and pushing the wheelchair – so I am saving my energy for those activities. We walked ~10 miles yesterday. 

We ate breakfast at our hotel and checked our bags at the front desk before embarking on our activities for the day. Our first stop was Ueno Park. There was rain in the forecast today so we were a little unsure about whether our itinerary would work. We were planning to spend quite a bit of the day outside. Fortunately, although it was raining it was more of a light drizzle and we managed to get by without getting too wet.

Ueno Park is a large and beautiful park. It is the location of many shrines/temples and museums. We left the hotel right around rush hour so even getting into the train station was an adventure. There is a raised walkway that we take between our hotel and Shibuya station. Today it was a solid mass of people and umbrellas. I felt bad for the rest of our group who really had to fight through the crowd. I was pushing my grandpa and we took the elevator up to the walkway. Since he was in his wheelchair the crowd parted to let us through. We were also grateful that the particular train we needed to take was not overly full. We saw a few that were nearly bursting at their seams. 

Ueno Park was very enjoyable. Immediately after we entered I saw a statue I recognized in a little garden off to one side – The Burghers of Calais by Rodin. I have very much enjoyed Rodin’s work ever since I spent time touring the Rodin gardens at Stanford when I was on my mission. In addition to the Burghers, they had his Thinking Man statue, as well as, the Gates of Hell and Adam and Eve. I may not know much about art, but I know about Rodin. I would have never expected to put this knowledge to use in Tokyo. 

We continued walking and found a nice shrine and pagoda. It is the Tōshō-gū Shrine. Large stone lanterns lined the pathway to the shrine. These reminded us of the story my grandpa has often told us about the stone lanterns that were at the mansion he lived in/attended church in while he lived in Tokyo. He assured us the lanterns there were more elegant and a little smaller. We very much enjoyed the beauty of the shrine and pagoda tucked away in one corner of the park. 

We thought the prayer/wish for a good girlfriend was pretty funny.

As we walked I noticed a temple up on a hill. In front of the temple was a most unusual tree. It was right at the temple's center and has grown into a circular shape. While the rest of the group waited down below I climbed up the hill to check it out. There was a sign at the top indicating the temple was built in 1630. Alison followed me up. In front of the temple, there was a bell/gong with a rope to ring it. I encouraged her and she went ahead and rang it while I was taking a picture. She rang it twice, which made me a little self-conscious because everyone else who rang it only rang it once. She was a little annoyed at me when I told her that. 

We crossed the street to an area with another temple situated on a small inlet in a pond. Shinobazu Pond was covered in Lilly pads. While we were exploring Alison reminded me that it was almost noon and we should get going if we wanted to accomplish everything on our itinerary. So we headed out. 

We got another train to the Asakusa area of Tokyo. Here we were looking for one of the more famous temples and shrines. As we approached the temple we came across a busy shopping area. My grandparents saw the golden arches and decided Mcdonald's sounded like a great lunch. Alison and I left them with Ardis and Greg and continued looking for something a little more authentic. We found it just up the street. There was a sushi place. It was exactly the kind of experience we wanted to have because the sushi was served on a conveyer belt. The sushi chef was situated in the middle of the belt and he would replenish the sushi as needed. Then as the conveyer belt came around we would grab sushi that looked good. It took me a minute to figure it out, but once I found a few I liked I was on roll. Alison was not shy and grabbed a few. She was nice enough to split a few with me until I decided which ones I like. Later in the meal, we saw shrimp sushi coming that I liked and Alison asked me if I wanted to share one – I declined so we each got our own. It was too good to share. This meal was exactly what we were looking for in lunch. It tasted good, was a fun experience and it was quick. We actually finished eating our lunch and got back to Mcdonald's just as they were finishing their lunch, and we even had time to get a sweet treat – a sweet bun filled with ice cream. Once my grandpa saw that he ambled across the way after his lunch and bought one to share with my grandma Sue. 

The area outside the Sensoji temple was one of the most tourist-oriented areas we visited in Tokyo. There were rows and rows of shops leading up to the temple. The temple itself is stunning. There are many bright colors and intricate designs. I can see why this is one of the most popular temples to visit in Tokyo. While we were walking around a Japanese man came up and started talking to us. He wanted to know where we were from. We told him Utah and he immediately queried “Mormon?” when we responded yes (we would never dream of correcting this kind man who speaks very little English) he went into stream-of-consciousness mode and began to spout off the related English words he knew – Salt Lake City, Book of Mormon, gold plates, missionary, Nephi, etc. He told us he goes to church every Wednesday for English class and then comes to Senoji to practice. He was very grateful that we gave him the chance to talk to us. My grandpa also managed to make a few more local friends as we wandered around the temple complex. 

After the Sensoji temple, we made our way over to the Asakusa shrine. This was not nearly as grand or imposing as the temple. It was also under construction. As a result, we made this a quick stop before heading to our next destination – Tokyo Sky Tree. 

It was about a mile walk to get from Asakusa Shrine to Tokyo Skytree. My grandma was a trooper and has walked so many miles with us these past couple of days – really without complaint. I know it was not easy for her today, especially because her Michael Jackson shoes (that is what she calls this fun pair of gold shoes) were hurting her feet. We had a great time talking as we walked and took in the sites of Tokyo. One site, in particular, caught our attention - a love hotel. These came up in our research and Ardis and Greg’s research for these trips. These are hotels that can only be reserved a short time in advance and are available for periods ranging from one hour to a couple of days. They also tend to have a theme. For example, the one we walked past had hearts up and down the side – so it seemed like it had a simple romantic theme. Ardis and Greg made sure to get a picture in front of the love hotel. 

The Tokyo Skytree is a large telecommunication tower (650 meters tall) that has a couple of viewing decks. Even though the weather was not ideal we decided to ride the elevator to the top. We spent time walking around both decks taking in the sites of Tokyo. My favorite part was identifying places we had visited in the past couple of days and seeing them from the aerial vantage point. Greg liked to tell us that he was his corner office (he gets to have these types of views every day he is at work since he is a pilot).

After Tokyo Skytree it was time to leave Tokyo and travel to Nara. This was quite an experience. We successfully navigated the Subway to arrive at Shibuya station. We left my grandparents at the platform for our next train (which was painful because there was no good way to take an elevator to this particular station) while Ardis, Greg, Alison, and I returned to the hotel to retrieve all of our bags. Greg daisy chained a few together and we were able to get all of them from the hotel to the station. Of course, the station was once again very busy. We managed to get everything on the train and we made it to Shinagawa station where we planned to pick up the bullet train. We had a tight connection so we moved as fast as possible through the station to the platform of our next train. We made it in time, but because of the tight connection, we did not have time to get reserved seats. We had to use an unreserved car, which it turns out was very full. We also were unsure if there would be room for our luggage. There was in fact room for our luggage, but there were no seats for us. We got to stand as the train headed to our first stop. The whole way Alison and I were praying our hearts out that two seats would open up for my grandparents. As the train pulled into the station exactly two seats opened up and my grandparents got to sit down. We were so relieved. We also broke out some granola bars. We did not really have time for dinner with all of our running around. At the next stop a few more seats opened up and we all sat down. Ardis was very prepared with boxes of Nilla wafers and Cheez-its. She is an awesome aunt. I do not know what we would have done without Ardis and Greg on this trip. They have been so helpful and we have very much enjoyed their company. Navigating these first two days in Tokyo, and especially tonight without them would have been very difficult. 

We were on the bullet train for a little over two hours. When it arrived in Kyoto we had to switch to a local train to get to Nara. By the time we arrived in Kyoto, I was nodding off. We only had about 10 minutes to transfer trains, but we once again made it right in time. This train was not as crowded and there were seats, but Greg and I both stood for most of the hour's ride. I wanted to stand because I knew otherwise I might fall asleep. It was just after 10:00pm by the time we arrived. Our hotel in Nara is great because it is right at the train station. We had to walk ~100 yards to get there. My grandparents were especially happy with this development because my grandpa told me he really had nothing left in the tank after our busy day of site seeing and traveling. We checked in and headed to bed. 

It was a fun day, but it was long, especially for my grandparents. This will be one of our more challenging days because we ran all over Tokyo and had to travel for 4 hours. The next time we take a train that is longer than 2 hours will be back to Tokyo (6 hours), but that will be really all we have planned for that day. We all survived one of the more difficult legs of our adventure today - and we had a great time doing it.