Mrs. Wright's great grade 3s!: Day 3 in Tokyo

Today we had a bit later start to the day. We left the hotel at about 10:30 and discovered that is was raining. It was warm and sprinkly. Down to the subway we went for our last day in Tokyo. Our first stop was the Imperial Palace. It is the main home of the Emporer of Japan. Don was so excited because we were going to a castle! Well, surprise, surprise! We weren't allowed to go anywhere near the Edo Castle because it is isn't there. The private residence was built on the former site of the Edo Castle. We were only allowed in the garden. Don thought that he would get to see swords, armour and dungeons but instead he got to stroll through gardens of flowers and trees. Not quite what he expected! But it was very lovely, even though it rained most of the time.

The gatehouse of the Imperial Palace

Beautiful gardens in the Imperial Palace

The gardens of the Imperial Palace

Me!!!

Some of these trees are hundreds of year old.

Us!!!

More beauty

Our next stop on the tour of fun was a trip to see the Tokyo Skytree. It is quite a distance from the Imperial Palace but we had been told it was worth the trip. We came up from the subway station and we were quite excited to ride up to the observation tower. But....it was closed because it was too windy! Let's see who can find out how tall the Tokyo Skytree is....first person to send me the answer gets 2 Gotchas when I get back!

Tokyo Skytree

When we discovered that we could not go on the Skytree, we hopped back on the subway and went to an area called Asakusa. We had been told by many people that this was a place that we should visit during our stay. We were not quite sure what we would see but we were not disappointed...

A small temple in Asakusa

What kind of bridge is this??

Don is so strong!

Strolling through the market in Asakusa

Who wants to give this guy a hug?? Alex, I think you could cheer him up!

The top of a street pole

The rain stopped and the sun came out for a moment to have a great look at the Tokyo Skytree

Apparently, this man is human art.

A statue in Asakusa

Hanging lanterns in Asakusa

A temple in Asakusa

When I came down the road, there were a lot of teenagers in school uniforms standing around a counter and they were shaking these metal containers. Then they would open one of the little drawers and take out a paper. I watched for a while but I still could not figure out what they were doing. I tried to ask one of the girls but her English was not very good so after they left, I found someone else to ask and I was told that they were like fortune tellers. When you shake the metal tin a stick, like a chopstick, comes out. Then you look at the symbols on the chopstick (which said something in Japanese), and found the little drawer that matched. Once you found the drawer, you took out a piece of paper and it said what your fortune was.