Day Two: Sightseeing in Tokyo

Day two of our Tokyo trip was a lot of fun. It basically was broken up into the following three segments: A trip to Tokyo Tower where we explored on our own for a bit, then we got on the bus and drove around while the guide pointed out places like the Tokyo Imperial Palace, Ginza (Tokyo's version of 5th Avenue) and other various points of interest. After that we unloaded, spent time in Asakusa while checking out the Sensoji Temple. We then took a Hamiko boat ride that dropped us off at Odaiba where we had free time. After that we boarded the bus and went back to the hotel. That is the brief version.

Here we are on our way to the Tokyo Tower. Zach is having his PediaSure, which serves as his coffee boost. It was already quite hot out but what a beautiful day!
We went to the main observatory which is only 150 meters up, just under half of the tower's total height of 333 meters. Due to Zach's overall grumpiness on this leg of the tour we opted to not pay the extra fee to go even higher. A mom of a student of mine was kind enough to snap a picture of all four of us.
This viewing station was really cool. Zach was bold enough to stick his neck out for the view while Clara stood close by.
I'll be honest with you, my stomach dropped a little when I stepped on this and looked down, but you know I had to do it. The rest of the family opted out.
We took a lot of pictures while in the tower, but I'm trying to minimize the post. Here is a picture of the bus we rode from Iwakuni and all over Tokyo.
Here is the picture Charlie took of the tower from the bottom. They are currently building the Tokyo Sky Tree that will nearly double the height of Tokyo Tower.
And we are off for our riding tour of Tokyo. Here you can see Zach having a blast with Charlie.
Again, I took many pictures of the tour but there weren't great since it was through the window of the bus. It was incredible to see though. Here had just unloaded from the bus and were waiting on our guide to secure tickets for the boat ride. After he did that we were free to explore until we met back for the boat ride. The building below is the Asahi Beer Hall which we had an excellent view of while we waited.
This is where I was sitting when the above picture was snapped. Typically I wouldn't have posted this picture, but it shows a happy time right before I spazzed out. It took a while before I could laugh about it, but each time I think about it I get tickled. As you can see, we are chilled out and just sitting. What you do not see is that behind me this area ends in a V, with Tokyo traffic streaming all around. Notice Zach is not wearing "the puppy". He jumped up and took off toward the V. Clara was just sitting there beside me, and I was so frantic thinking he would beat me to the street that I instinctively twisted my body and used whatever leverage I needed to burst into speed after him. It turns out that leverage was Clara. That's right. As I twisted, my left arm hurled her right off that little wall we were sitting on and slung her right onto the ground. I caught up to Zach in record time. As I returned, so did my sanity. I had some apologizing to do as Clara cried hysterically and Charlie soothed her. Afterward he told me that he understood what happened (Clara accepted my apology and I promised her that I would sling Zach to get to her too if I thought she was in danger) but hoped none of our fellow travelers saw it because it looked pretty bad. Yes, I still feel sheepish about it.
Luckily all the crying was over, the puppy went back on Zach and we started exploring Asakusa. It was very packed with lots of vendors selling goods and yummy treats. Zach was quite taken with these mannequins. I mean, we had to drag him away. He would stand beside the tall one, gave it a hug and as you can see is holding the hand of the other one. It was cute, but we noticed as we returned down the street that these little guys had plastic covers on them. Coincidence? I doubt it.





According to our guide, the people are directing the smoke to parts of their bodies for healing purposes.
A shot of the Tokyo Sky Tree.
Did I mention it was hot? We took a little break for ice cream. The vendors here spoke English and were very friendly. After several minutes, he came out and took pictures of us to put up on his picture covered exterior display.
Charlie ordered...something...on a stick and he came out to suggest a seasoning.

This is what a Hamiko boat looks like. It was very cool. We rode it to our next place to explore. We took loads of pictures on this scenic tour, but I'm sparing you.
This is the view of Aqua City at Odaiba. It was pretty cool. I think we had two hours to explore this area.
I'll see if you can figure out why I posted this picture. That's all I've got to say about that.
While at Aqua City we hit the Disney Store where Clara acquired a stuffed Chip (that is because her daddy is a softy) and he bought me a pancake mold of Mickey's ears, and these lollipops that came in handy to calm Zach as he did not nap that day. We also went to Toys R Us where we bought wood chips for Marty (Clara's beetle) and some cool construction vehicles for Zach that were pretty cheap. I'd been looking for some so was really tickled to see them.
If you checked out the link at the beginning of the post of our trip you can get an explanation of why the Statue of Liberty is in Tokyo.
Our last minutes while waiting on the rest of the group to meet was spent down at the water. Zach really enjoyed it and got quite filthy.

This day was really neat. Due to the crowding our guide recommended not taking the stroller so we left it on the bus. That was probably a tactical error on our part, but we made it through the day and everyone ultimately enjoyed it. By signing up for the tour we did so much more than we probably would have on our own. It was really nice because basically our guide armed us with information, dropped us off and told us when to meet back and off we'd go for the next thing. We made it back to the hotel in the late afternoon. I decided to give the kids baths, run down to the deli for grilled cheese and hot dogs for the kids, burgers for me and Charlie, rented Ice Age Dawn of the Dinosaurs, and we chilled out. We were all pretty worn out by then and looking forward to a day of exploring on our own for day three.

Disneyland

We spent our first full day in Tokyo at Disneyland. We were to meet our bus in front of the hotel at 9am. I was concerned we would oversleep, but that is often difficult to do with Zach. We ordered breakfast and started getting ready. Clara was a bit sluggish, but again, it is hard to stay in bed long with Zach around.

The kids eating a combo of fresh fruit and poptarts. The breakfast of champions!

It wasn't too long and we were rolling up at the gate. We had a fabulous day at Disney. We exchanged our vouchers for passports and got busy on our day of fun.

A view of Cinderella's castle from the World Bazaar.

And of course, as soon as we found a spot that wasn't streaming with people, I started slathering on the sunscreen.
Don't you just love Clara's Minnie ears? We tried to get Zach to go for a hat but he was having none of it.
After walking for several minutes, riding the Star Jets ride and adjusting to the heat we decided to stop for a little refreshing beverage and snacks. Charlie ordered a shrimp burger but was pleasantly surprised with his Mickey-shaped pizza. Honestly, it didn't look tasty but he said it was good.

We spent a lot of time in Toon Town where we rode several rides and the kids were able to explore various playhouses.

Interestingly, Goofy's car has the steering wheel on the left side...I bet Charlie felt funny!

Zachy...OUT! Charlie and Clara took off to ride the Haunted Mansion while Zach and I walked around with the hopes he would fall asleep. He was not pleased but finally gave in. It was horribly hot but I managed to find a place in the shade.
After Zach woke up, Charlie got the kids push pops to cool down.

Then we went on several more rides including this ship, the train, and a jungle cruise. Zach really got the hang of waiting in line.

This is on the jungle cruise and it was really neat. None of the animals were real, but they set it up quite nicely and the kids were quite impressed.
It was time to fuel up so we chowed down on some chicken curry. Zach loves this meal, and it was fairly tasty.

After dinner we caught a small show that the kids enjoyed. On a side note, I am intrigued by the periodic use of English at the park. All the singing in this show was in Japanese, however nearly at the end Mickey called out: One more time! Interesting. Anyway, as we began making our way on around the park we noticed people already hunkering down for the electric parade. We felt like we had already put in a full day so planted ourselves down right near the World Bazaar for a quick exit after the parade. We wanted to be able to pick up t-shirts before we left the park. We sat there for quite a while. After a time out, Zach was pretty good. Charlie ended up getting the kids a couple of rather annoying (but fun) souvenirs that make plenty of sounds and are accompanied by lights.
Still waiting. Clara has been around the Japanese too much! See her peace sign. The Japanese are often seen posing for pictures with everyone doing peace signs.
This was my first time seeing the electric parade and it. was. awesome. I loved it and took a picture of every single float (aren't you glad I spared you). They just kept coming! It was well worth the wait.
After the parade, we took off to get t-shirts, as apparently everyone else in the park has the same idea. We held off a few minutes and slipped into a shop that was not nearly as bustling as some of the others (but that is not to say they weren't busy). We quickly found shirts in our sizes that had Disneyland Tokyo on them and headed toward the bus. Charlie snapped this picture right before we left of Cinderella's Castle all lit up.
Zach was out in minutes of being on the bus. I took many more pictures but this does a fair job of documenting our visit. We were all rather tired and while I had grand ideas of baths and showers upon arriving at the hotel, Zach didn't even wake up when I carried him from the bus or when I changed him in the room.

Day 2: Tokyo sightseeing tour!

Tokyo Bound

We signed up for the ITT Tokyo Fun trip in August. The bus was scheduled to leave Iwakuni at 10:30 PM August 3rd. Zach was so excited to be on a bus. We let Clara stay up while we had already put Zach to bed. He handled it very well and kept announcing how fun it was. He finally fell asleep an hour after departure, only to wake up at the first stop (the bus stopped every two hours). So, it was a fun time but all in all I think he did great. Clara was a trooper.Here are the kids at one of the frequent stops. We stopped for breakfast at McDonalds and then did lunch at Yokosuka Naval Base (same place Charlie had surgery last summer). While there we finally bought Clara Grace a pair of Sketchers Twinkle Toes sneakers. They are horrible, but she loves them.

Tokyo! We finally made it. We rolled in just after 3pm, August 4th. We were tuckered out. After checking in, I unloaded all of our stuff and got settled. Showers were in order, then we set out to explore the hotel. We ate at the deli in the hotel, then suited up for the indoor pool. I went ahead and set out clothes for tomorrow, the kids had baths and then we went to bed. The next day we were scheduled for Disneyland Tokyo!