Tokyo, Japan - March 9

shrine's second gate

10 degrees, overcast, rain

purification

Every day that passes, increases the civility of the tours since we we got off of the ship. Today's bus had 13 people on it - jackpot. 

Meiji Shrine was our first stop today - it was gorgeous. This spot was like a shrine complex within a park. The trees were huge. Just as we boarded the bus at the end of our visit the rain started. I learned to purify myself - get water, wash left hand, wash right hand, rinse (don't swallow) mouth from water poured into left hand, rinse ladle. 

Tokyo Tower

Tokyo Tower is a slightly larger copy of the Eiffel Tower - this was our second stop today. It is a tower for TV and radio. Basically our visit there was for the observation deck. There's also shopping on the first floor, but that's it. 

Tokyo skyline

That officially was the end of the organized part of our vacation. 

sake barrels donated for the emperor

It was still raining when we got back to the hotel, so we didn't want to venture too far for lunch. We considered lunch at the hotel, but after checking prices and especially wine prices decided against it. We found pizza, wine and salad close to the hotel - the hotel was NOT offering glasses of wine for 6.00!. What we had was delicious and didn't break the bank.

We also found a grocery on the way back and picked up some green tea mini KitKats, what look like prawn/cilantro/lime/ chili chips and an orange bell pepper. The chips tasted not at all like prawns, but like lime and chili – I’d have them again.

We decided to take it easy for the rest of the afternoon and evening. We had a couple of drinks and some snacks at the hotel bar – 20.00 drinks again…luckily these were 2 for one. The view was pretty spectacular, would have been even better had it not been for the clouds.