It's Wednesday, It Must Be Tokyo

Tuesday evening we were in bed by 8pm and both had a decent night's sleep.  Up early on Wednesday, we had a leisurely morning before heading  out.  Our destination was the Imperial Palace East National Gardens.  From the Hilton, we were able to walk through the underground passageway to get to the Metro stop we needed to start our journey.  It was then about a half hour ride to the stop near the gardens.  The subway was quite crowded, more on the subway experience later.

We entered the gardens through a gate from the original Edo Castle.

As you can see, it was a cool morning, temps in the low 50's.  When the sun did come out, it was okay.  Walking around, we saw impressive walls and old guard houses.  It's always interesting to see the contrast between the old, historic buildings and the modern construction.

Since it's only mid-February, the gardens, though expansive, were still in their winter slumber.

We were surprised and rewarded to find a couple of cherry trees that were in early bloom!

At one point we came across the remains of the base of the old Edo Castle keep.  Then we were able to see a model of what it looked like.

Linda was doing well strolling around the gardens but we did reach a point where we were ready to head back.  Walking back to the Metro station, we passed a building that had many restaurants downstairs.  It was like a food court down there and we found a noodle place to eat in.  It was good and cheap!

After napping and resting, we decided to head to the Ginza.  We had passed through the area on our excursion last year but we wanted to see it after dark.  We took the Metro again and wandered around for just a short time.

After returning to the hotel, we grabbed a quick dinner and then headed for bed. 

Now for some observations about riding the Metro.  Let's start in the stations.  The city has an incredible array of underground passages that will take you to the Metro and to your destination if you know how to navigate through them.

I finally discovered that Google Maps is quite helpful.  When I entered exactly where I wanted to go in the Ginza, Maps showed me the best car to get onto on the train and then indicated which exit from the station we should take.  After winding our way through the passages, we found exit A10 which was exactly the intersection we wanted to be at!

Another thing of note, is how civilized the Japanese are.  People queue up so politely on the Metro stations, no pushing and shoving.

The trains were always crowded and it seemed that almost everyone was on their phones.

And, lastly for today's  entry, let's talk about how great Linda did.  She walked over 10,000 steps and almost six miles!  It's the first time she's walked that far in nearly a year.  Was she tired and a bit sore at the end of the day - yes.  We'll see how she feels today, on Thursday, but so far so good.  I imagine we'll take it a little easier today.

Peace and blessings,

Linda and Larry