Tokyo Weekend:: Day Two

The first thing we did on Saturday was swim at the New Sanno. They have a great indoor pool that the girls love.

Then we headed out to see the Imperial Palace. Little did we know that it was the Emperors 80th anniversary and the palace grounds were completely packed with people. The grounds are huge and it was still hard to get around with the crowds. I guess for his anniversary they let you see more of the Palace so its a big deal but we couldn't even get to them with the crowds and lines. I think it was extra busy too because of the Cherry Blossoms. Its a big deal here and I joined the craze;)

Example of the crowds!

One thing we planned to do was go canoeing through the Cherry Blossoms around the Imperial Palace. The line to do this was insane, I was so disappointed I was really excited about it but we couldn't put the girls in a three hour line to do it that's for sure!

On the way back to the hotel we found a neat shopping area with this huge rose (Aubrey and Reagan said it was Princess Belle's).

There was a really beautiful garden below the stores. We even got to see more lit up Cherry Blossoms, score!

This weekend we took the girls to a hot springs amusement park/ spa resort. Ill post some pics soon it was lots of fun but very different!

Weekend in Tokyo: Day One

Nate is only home for a few weeks so we are trying to make the most of the time we have him with us! So we decided to spend the weekend in Tokyo and continue to feed my Cherry Blossom obsession. On Friday afternoon we had tickets for a Sumida river cruise to see the Cherry Blossoms trees lit up at night.

On the way to the cruise our tour guide took us thru part of Ueno park. This one is a "weeping" Sakura!

 One of the guys on the tour was from Australia and to be silly he bought face masks for everyone at a convenience store we walked by. From what I understand it is sort of a "fad" in Japan to wear them as well as a precaution from getting/spreading germs.  We couldn't get the girls to put them on though. We noticed this fad the moment we got off the airplane from DFW!

The tour guide also took us around the Senso-ji temple area but it started to down-pour on us and even was hailing for a little bit! We made the most of it and got some use out of our umbrellas.

Boarding the river cruise the "pretty girl" as Aubrey & Reagan say greeted us.

On the cruise we were served a Bento box and the Geisha came around and served us Sake before her performance. 

After the cruise we walked thru the Cherry Blossoms along the Sumida River which were lit up (they were gorgeous but I didn't get a pic) and admired the view of the Tokyo Skytree.  Then we made our way back to Senso-ji temple area.

Tokyo Skytree and the river cruise ships.

Senso-ji Temple

We had a great night in Tokyo. I will try to post about the next day soon.

Sakura in Kamakura

It was a beautiful day yesterday so I decided to take the girls to Kamakura to see the Sakura there. It's suppose to rain for the next few days so I wanted to see more blossoms while the sun was out. The area in Kamakura I took the girls to was the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, most of the Sakura trees were not in full bloom but they were still beautiful! I love Kamakura, its one of my favorite places to go and its a very short train ride from our house. If you come visit the first place we will take you is Kamakura!!

Aubrey loves to do the peace sign (aka victory sign in Japan), Reagan can't seem to make her little fingers get in that position. The peace sign doesn't really mean anything in Japan its more of a "pose" from what I understand.

Sakura

Spring is here in Japan and the Cherry Blossoms aka Sakura are out in full force. I feel like some of them bloomed over night! They typically stay bloomed for about a week/ week and a half but different varieties bloom at different times so its a bit tricky to figure out the best spots. Today I went with some of my girlfriends to Tokyo to do some shopping and see the Cherry Blossoms in Yoyogi Park. At this particular park the blossoms were very white not much pink in them like some I have seen and I felt like I was directly under clouds. It was a beautiful sight to see and my camera and photography skills don't do them justice.

In Japan it is a centuries-old tradition to picnic under the Sakura blossoms. It is known as "Hanami" and every park will have lots of people on blankets or tarps that the park provides picnicking all day long. We were surprised how many people were picnicking in the middle of a work day. I think the Japanese people get time off during Sakura season but not sure.  Lots of festivals happen on the weekends for Hanami as well.

My friend Lindsey has lived in Japan for about 2 years so she knew where to go. She also took us to a great shopping district in Tokyo called Omotesando with lots of boutiques and restaurants. It was a perfect day!

It may be Sakura picture overload for the next few days. I have a few visits planned in the coming week weather permitting. I hope I can see more, they are truly beautiful!