Tokyo in July

  And then we did Tokyo right after Kyoto.  Man, was I exhausted by the time we got there!  We arrived at our hotel at 10pm after having left our Kyoto hotel at 10am.  Most of that was waiting...waiting in a train station, waiting at the airport, waiting in the shuttle bus...
  Our shuttle ride from the airport was at night and it was so amazing to see Tokyo from afar and then ride straight through it!  At one point, you go across Tokyo Bay on a huge bridge and it's like coming into San Fransisco over the Bay Bridge, where the city just looms up out of the mist.  Although Tokyo seemed more like some dystopian future city with tons of towers where people live on top of each other...in the dark it looked like Gotham City.
   We stayed at a military hotel in Tokyo which was a little slice of America right there.  It was pretty nice and even had a pool and a few restaurants.  They served Starbuck's which was delightful as well!

  Day one was...frustrating!  We had left Kyoto feeling confident but the Tokyo subway is disastrous!  We were trying to find Shibuya Crossing (the most populated crosswalk in the world), got off at the wrong stop (had to pay extra because we were on a different train company and didn't know it) and then proceeded to walk 12 blocks to Shibuya Crossing.  This wouldn't be a big deal if I wasn't pregnant  and so sore already!  But hey, we found it!  We visited the 6 floored Forever 21 (for some accessories for me) and took pictures of all the people.  Holy Moly, there are a ton!  That's about all Little E and I could handle for the day so we went back to the hotel that evening and swam at the pool.  Adam went out later that night to see the city lights and said it was even busier!

Shibuya Crossing

More Shibuya

At night

Forever 21...a picture for my friend, Shelley, who was so excited to go there!

  Day two was much more productive and successful!  We saw the Imperial Palace (where the current emperor of Japan still lives)...well the outside of it anyway.  You can't go in because it's still in use.  It's got beautiful grounds and gardens around it and then we went to a lovely park only a block away, had lunch and let Little E play on the playground...a necessary measure when traveling with littlies!

Outside the Palace by the moat

Indeed, you can't go in!

The palace is right in the middle of the city

See the palace from afar...

There it is...lovely.

Yet another gate you cannot go in.

  Day three was yet another bust (one we don't even have pictures of).  I tried to take Little E to a park...but it ended up being just a botanical garden.  She kept asking me, "Mom, when can we go to the park?" and I had to keep telling her we were already there...so sad.  Adam went to a little sword museum and then we all went back to the hotel for swimming.
  So as you can see, Tokyo did not get the attention it deserved simply because Little E was tired and I could barely walk through a whole day.  Poor Adam (we were not the best traveling companions)!  But we've learned how to better travel with kids and that we should NOT travel pregnant.