Day 2
How did you spend your morning today ?
Bet it wasn't like mine.
Let's take a stroll down the street from my hotel and see what we run into.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00272.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00273.jpg
More vending machines
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00274.jpg
Can't get over how tiny the high rise is
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00275.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00276.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00277.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00278.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00279.jpg
Ooooh subway crossing
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00280.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00281.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00282.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00283.jpg
Pay phones: Green ones take phone cards and yen and can't make int'l phone calls, Grey ones are pretty much the same except you can make int'l calls on them.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00284.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00285.jpg
Bike locking station
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00286.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00332.jpg
There are a lot of these here
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00287.jpg
Subway station
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00288.jpg
No clue what/who this is
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00289.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00290.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00291.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00292.jpg
Even off the main street are winding alleyways everywhere
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00293.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00295.jpg
Parking lot meter
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00294.jpg
Those awesome cabs, the model is a Cedric
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00293.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00297.jpg
Hey a park ! Cool lets take a look.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00298.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00299.jpg
Wow, was that a red flash of a tail I saw ?
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00300.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00301.jpg
You can hear the wind rushing through the trees, the crows crying their very distinctive AH'Hs the tone of which is some aking to a bullfrog or Ernie the muppet.
Look ! A kitty
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00302.jpg
Then it appears, my jaw drops and the voice in my head says YOU ARE NOW IN JAPAN !!!
My first shinto shrine, it's Meiji Jingu !!!!
First things first purification ritual.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00308.jpg
You take the ladle and first pour water over your left hand, then your right hand. Next pour into your left hand and rinse your mouth lastly rinse your left hand and the ladle, kinda bungled this step. I did it but not the way it should be done.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00303.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00304.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00305.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00306.jpg
Prayers
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00306.jpg
No pictures of the temple inside, is forbidden. I was there early enough though that I got to hear and see the taiko drum introduce the priests and watched in awe as they apporached and addressed the ancestors. Absolutely stunning !
Exiting the shrine I hit the the other half of the forest
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00309.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00310.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00311.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00312.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00313.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00314.jpg
Bamboo grove
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00315.jpg
Martial arts dojo
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00316.jpg
The Treasures Musuem it was closed what do expect at 8:00am.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00317.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00318.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00319.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00320.jpg
Rounding back to where we began
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00321.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00322.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00323.jpg
Koi
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00324.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00325.jpg
The vechicles can get so cute and tiny
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00326.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00331.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00328.jpg
Yet more vending machines
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00333.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10...8/DSC00334.jpg
Still getting over the jet lag, hopefully it be all over tomorrow.