DAY 4: SOMETIMES 9AM IS JUST NOT EARLY ENOUGH

we woke up at 6am today, hung out for a bit, ate some breakfast and got ready for the day. today we were going on a day-trip to nikko/kegon falls.

well, that just didn't happen haha...

we were out the door by 9am to head to the train station. apparently getting an "all nikko pass" is much harder than we anticipated. we had to go to the asakusa station first (which i had read about), but it was very confusing, and by the time we asked just about every person at every help desk at each station where to get the pass, it was 10:45am, and the lady who sold us the tickets to go said it would be a waste to go by that point. we knew it was a long journey to get there (2 hour train ride to nikko and then another 50 minute bus ride to get to kegon falls), but we didn't realize the last train to get back was at 6pm. so, she was right. and we're SO happy she told us all this instead of just letting us go (the passes aren't cheap, like $45/person), so she gave us our money back and out the door we went. well, "now what?" right?

we were already in asakusa, and we were planning on coming here anyway as part of our itinerary for monday, so, we did a few things we had planned for monday instead. after being bummed for a bit, we got some delicious curry, and it ended up being a great day :)

the curry that fixed our sadness

love the faces next to the levels of spice hehe

asakusa buildings

a fun bus!

off subject, but this yellow line needs to be talked about. okay, these things are on EVERY sidewalk, everywhere in tokyo (and possibly elsewhere, we just haven't been outside tokyo yet). any guesses as to what they are? we had no idea. we thought maybe they led to major hotels or shrines or something? nope. they are for blind people. how awesome is that?! the textures mean different things and they can feel them with their walking stick. i love it.

the biggest tourist trap yet haha

SO many outside shops FILLED with souvineers or food to eat

these stands are pretty common. they have cool unusual flavors that i definitely plan on trying haha...here are the flavors listed: vanilla, green tea, black sesame, chocolate, strawberry, cherry, ogura, custard pudding, vanilla & green tea, vanilla & chocolate, vanilla & strawberry, rose, rum raisin, cookies vanilla, grape, pineapple, mango, melon, cappuccino, almond jelly, a white peach, citron, banana, sweet potato, bean curd (tofu), caramel, plum, marron, orange, and blueberry yogurt. yuuuuuummmmmmm...

past all the souvineers, you get to the temple/shrine area

sakura blooming!

an awesome 5-story pagoda

so pretty! can't wait to see them all in full bloom!

by the asakusa shrine, people were washing their hands with this water

and writing out prayers. people were also burning a TON of insense which smelled really good, and prayed some more:

cool statues around, and a ton of cool garden areas (pics below)

lots of tombs too.

afterwards, we walked around the surounding area just exploring alleys and streets. it's amazing how much is packed in this city, and so much is happening in one tiny area of it

a cool door that i liked :)

erik and i being goofs

we also found "kappabashi street" which is well known for all their kitchen supplies for restaurants. i loved this guy's shop.

and we stopped at one of the many vending machines to get this grape drink. it had jelly in it! sooo good.

after seeing asakusa for a while, we did what was next on the list for monday: akihabara. very well known as the "electronics district"

for starters, this building was 9 floors high filled with all sorts of electronics/games/toys

action figures GALORE

these things are also everywhere. they are like those 25 cent capsule toys you can get in a checkout line, only they are like $2.00 and you can get some pretty decent toys from them!

baby carriages from the future. also like $1,600

lots and lots of floors!

walking around some more...by the way we probably walked at least another 6 miles today haha...

oh! and this is very common too. plastic food in the window to choose what you would like to eat :) it looks quite realistic!

elevators leading into a building with 25 different restaurants inside. hence, "chomp chomp" on the mats haha

and, well, we obviously had to go in here

it's sort of hilarious because it's quite common to see a lot of business men in suits and ties coming in these types of places after work haha...they love their video games!

we were exhausted by this point, so we headed to the train station to go back to shinjuku. another fun fact: trains can get PACKED, but they are almost silent inside! NO one talks! and the announcements ask you kindly to silence your cell phones and not talk on them while you ride the train. it's so quiet! very strange. but also nice!

we got back to our hotel as it was starting to rain. we headed to the 7-11 again for some food, and are just taking it easy for the night. tomorrow is another adventure!