Ueno Park

With rain in the forecast for the next few days, we decided to start at Ueno Park, a large public park which is a popular cherry blossom spot. It also includes some shrines and museums. The rain and wind can always wipe away the cherry blossoms, so we thought it would be safe to get one good viewing in. 

Nicole instructed us on which Metro line to take, and with that information, the metro, besides navigating inside the station itself, was very easy. The ticket machines can be switched to English, and you can search by station name to figure out the ticket price. There are maps that include the station names with numbers (the numbers vary by line, so Ueno on the Hibiya line is H17, but G16 on the Ginza line). 

 

It was still morning, but the train was fairly empty and we easily found seats. The trains are incredibly smooth  and quiet. There is really no need to hold on, although handles are easy to find. 

 

When we arrived at Ueno Madhu got a snack and I got  a Sakura (cherry blossom) latte to join the festivities. When we ordered they switched baristas to someone who could speak English, very tourist friendly. 

 

Timm told us that eating/drinking while walking is not something people do here (although we ended up witnessing this several places in festival areas), but that was fine because we could partake in the log tradition of the Hanami (cherry blossom viewing) picnic. 

 

People arrive early in the morning to set up their tarps to claim a coveted picnic spot to picnic under the cherry blossom trees. As far as picnic spots go, this is pretty good. 

 

 We explored the grounds and checked out a couple shrines. 

 

    

 

We then happened upon some food stalls, my favorite! So easy to point and get what you want. We tried grilled rice cakes, cabbage pancakes, gyoza, corn on the cob, and sweet potato fries similar to kettle corn. 

 

   

We headed to Senso-ji, a Buddhist temple, and Tokyo's oldest temple. It was about a 30 minute walk. A very quiet walk. Although Tokyo has 13 million people it is exceptionally quiet, eerily quiet. We saw this great ramen robot on the way:

Vending machines are everywhere:

 

Senso-ji to be continued on the next post...