Tokyo Trip

Although we technically live in the Tokyo metropolitan area, we are about an hour away from downtown Tokyo, and things are very different where we live. As you drive closer to the downtown area, the buildings get taller and closer together and you wonder why on earth they would build so many skyscrapers in a country prone to earthquakes!
Whenever we have guests we take them to the Asakusa area of Tokyo, where some of the "old city" remains. First you see huge and impressive Kaminarimon gate.

Look how tiny Chad and Abbey are under the lantern!

Then you walk down this row of shops (actually small stalls), called Nakamise Dori.

Then you see Sensoji temple, the oldest temple in Tokyo. It doesn't even look real, does it? It's beautiful.

You may also see crazy tourists. The smoke behind them is from incense. People wave the smoke on themselves for healing.

There is also a pagoda close by. This is actually my favorite building in the area.

There are many small buildings (temples? shrines? memorials?) all around, as well as a little koi pond with a bridge... too many pictures to pick from! Everything is so detailed and well-kept, and despite all the people around it is peaceful there.

Click on this picture to see the little animal statues' red bibs.

After traveling to Tokyo in the morning, touring Asakusa in the afternoon and going to the baseball game at night, we were exhausted. So the next morning we ate breakfast and went SWIMMING! The New Sanno in Tokyo is a very nice military-only hotel with a great indoor pool.

Just for a little comparison... this is Abbey (18 months old) during our first trip to Tokyo.

And here's big girl Abbey, Elliott and Chad. The girls had a great time with Daddy... and I enjoyed sitting in the hot tub for a few minutes!

That afternoon we headed back out to visit the Sony Building. I will not lie to you, I was bored out of my mind and did not take any pictures. Even though I didn't have fun, it would have been worth it if Matt and Luke got to see what they wanted to see. But apparently the entire floor of Playstation displays no longer exists. :0( On the way back to the hotel after that, Elliott had her first (and hopefully last) subway meltdown! I guess screaming babies aren't all that common on the Tokyo Metro because people were looking at us like we were crazy! The longest five stops of my life.

You are NOT supposed to eat on the subway. But desperate times call for desperate, Teddy Graham measures.

I am so glad that my "little" brothers came to visit us here. Thanks Matt and Luke! (And Mom!) I hope that they enjoyed seeing a different part of the world as much as we enjoyed showing it to them. Abbey is so excited that we will be living closer to her uncles soon.

Abbey, Matt, Bethany, Elliott and Luke

Elliott had just grabbed Luke's bus ticket out of his shirt pocket and thrown it into the fountain behind us. Looks like she is seeing what she can take from Matt.