Ueno Park (Covering Tokyo on Foot)
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| The sakura trees along Shinobazu pond at Ueno Park |
We had a quite a full-day itinerary for the day, wanting to cover as much as we can. (By "full", it reads: Ueno Park, Asakusa, Tokyo Skytree, Akihabara, Tokyo Tower... All in one day!) While we did not expect it, a lot of literal "leg work" was required. I think I lost a couple of kilos with all the walking we did. I'm not complaining though. If anything, I truly enjoyed it and there were instances wherein I opted to do so instead of taking the easy way of just hailing a cab. After a while, it gets tiring though.
Reason for all the walking: (1) our hostel is far from the "nearest" train station. (While it's good to be quite far from the hustle and the bustle, the amount of time spent on walking to and from might be something worth considering as well, for future travels. So how about half-way?); (2) While the Tokyo trail system is very much efficient, the connecting stations we had for most -- if not all -- of the places we've visited are quite at a distance from each other; and lastly, (3) what appears close and in sight might actually translate to 20 minute or so of walking as in the case of the Tokyo Tower experience, but more of that later.
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| Ate Tata in one of the stores at Fabric Street |
Since, our hostel is along Fabric Street, there are a lot of shops on both sides. So from the bank, we did some shop hopping and bought a few things along the way. Some good finds were winter capes at 100 yen. That's like around 40 pesos. They were good buys considering they were brand new and the material is good. (Yup, folks, there are inexpensive finds in Japan. Not everything is expensive as what readily thinks. In terms of food and accommodations though, these are really expensive.)
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| Ah! Puzzle for the day! |
Finding the Right Station. Figuring out the right train station took some time. It did not help that the "train map" appeared to be a complicated criss-crossing of differently-colored lines. Each color represents, well, a train line or route.
Our destination for the day starts with Ueno Park. Looking at the map we found out that the line that plies there do not pass through our station (much to our dismay). We needed to take a train to the next station where we could catch one that does.
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| Walk we did. A lot! Lower right photo: Err... Ate, you lost? :) |
Day Pass. When we finally found it, we proceeded to get a day pass in view of the jam-packed itinerary we intended to cover that day. It was better to do so since it would mean saving a lot in terms of the fare. Before we knew it, we're off to Ueno Park and were tingling with anticipation.
Finally, at Ueno Park. It's either we made a mistake in reading which correct (a.k.a nearest) train station to jump off, or that's just how it is -- the points of interests are really located at a distance from the train stations (there were other instances that it wasn't the case at all) -- thus the need to cover such long distances on foot. But it was so worth it. Ueno park is beautiful. I've read about how it's most stunning during sakura season but in autumn, it was splendid as well.
There were a lot of points of interest there: different museums, temples and a zoo. We spent most of our time around the picturesque Shinobazu pond. The pathway around it was dotted with sakura trees in its glorious autumn colors. The Bendento Temple (pagoda) is at one side of the pond as well. We took turns getting our photos taken with it as the background.
At the west side of the pond is a facility that rents out paddle boats. Our "young adults" rented one and enjoyed some time paddling to the farthest section of the pond and back.
Toshogu Shrine. There were two other temples we visited inside Ueno. One was picturesque Toshogu Shrine. Something funny happened with the olds though when we went there. Outside the temple we saw some kind of a water fountain with dippers. We watched as the temple visitors before us took turn getting water from the fountain, wash their hands and face and then "drink" from the dipper. The ever curious Mama Fely and Mama looked on as several others followed suit.
Probably thinking that they finally got it after observing quite a handful, they then proceeded to the water fountain. As they've seen, they got the dipper, got some water and then first washed their hands. Next, Mama Fely and Mama washed their face. After that, they drank the water. Ate Gaga, followed suit. Then lo and behold, an old Japanese man approached us and told us they shouldn't have drank the water. He showed them that they ought to have just washed their mouth and then spit the water. Hahahaha! Imagine that! I was beside myself in amusement. Bless them and I sure love them but yeah it was really funny. Good thing I followed my intuition. Funny or not, I think it's one of the highlights of the trip (There's another one also involving Mama Fely and the very hi-tech public toilet but that's a different entry altogether.). And yeah, since I am so cautious, I would be some boring grandma someday with very little amusing experience to relay to my grandchildren :)
As I said, Toshugu Shrine is picturesque. We had lots of pictures from there. We saw some visitors say a prayer by the entrance of the temple and then rang the bell. The olds did the same. Bless them :)
Kiyomizu Kannon Temple. Another highlight for me was the visit to Kiyomizu Kannon Temple. The temple's architecture wasn't the one that attracted me though. It's beautiful though. Only, what caught my eye was the prayer boards that I stumbled upon by its entrance. While I could not read most of them as they are in Japanese, there were a few written in English. And one in particular made me smile (see right photo). I sincerely hoped that she got her wish, if she had not changed her mind at some point in her life yet.
It made me want to write my own wish too. I wondered what that would be though. Maybe around being able to travel some more and of course for the children. I wish for them to have a full, promising future ahead of them. I wish that they would grow up to be kind persons, making a good contribution to our country and to the society and community they would find themselves in.
We spent so much time in Ueno that it would seem we would only be able to cover that for that day and perhaps a few other attractions. But lo and behold, we were up and about well into the night and managed to go to all of the places we've planned for that day.
Remember the old man I mentioned by the water fountain? He toured us a bit and even took us to Kappabashi Street which was not part of our itinerary. It was a good thing too because the place was absolutely delightful and should not be missed while in Tokyo. He probably pitied us and made sure we would be doing things right on our next stop ;) More of Kappabashi in my next entry. Here's sharing some more of the photos that we had while at Ueno.
Photo at the left showed a food stall inside the park that sell fried squid and other seafoods. He was delightful to watch and I would have wanted to linger a bit. The other photo was of one of the restaurants we've passed while walking towards the park from the train station. It was actually mechanical. The chopsticks with the noodles would move up and down, dipping into the bowl. Only in Japan, huh?
Here's Ate Tata with the paddle boats in the background. We had several photos taken over here while we wait for the kids to finish with their ride across the pond.
Here's all the other prayer boards :) I wish I was able to buy one and scribbled my wishes as well. The temple was close though at that time. These boards had to be bought from there.
Mama outside Toshogu Shrine
I could stay here an entire day. It was just so peaceful. I fancy just whiling the time away writing or simply reading a book.
Mama Fely in one of the benches by the lotus pond. A tourist guide book relayed how the pond looks splendid in the summer with the lotus flowers blooming.
Catching the bus for Kappabashi Street :)
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| Bendento Temple |
There were a lot of points of interest there: different museums, temples and a zoo. We spent most of our time around the picturesque Shinobazu pond. The pathway around it was dotted with sakura trees in its glorious autumn colors. The Bendento Temple (pagoda) is at one side of the pond as well. We took turns getting our photos taken with it as the background.
At the west side of the pond is a facility that rents out paddle boats. Our "young adults" rented one and enjoyed some time paddling to the farthest section of the pond and back.
Toshogu Shrine. There were two other temples we visited inside Ueno. One was picturesque Toshogu Shrine. Something funny happened with the olds though when we went there. Outside the temple we saw some kind of a water fountain with dippers. We watched as the temple visitors before us took turn getting water from the fountain, wash their hands and face and then "drink" from the dipper. The ever curious Mama Fely and Mama looked on as several others followed suit.
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| Huli ka! Mama Fely just about to take a drink :) |
As I said, Toshugu Shrine is picturesque. We had lots of pictures from there. We saw some visitors say a prayer by the entrance of the temple and then rang the bell. The olds did the same. Bless them :)
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| Barely seen at the left, next to the red door is the temple's rope connected to a bell. People ring this bell after saying a prayer. Or so it would seem that way. |
Kiyomizu Kannon Temple. Another highlight for me was the visit to Kiyomizu Kannon Temple. The temple's architecture wasn't the one that attracted me though. It's beautiful though. Only, what caught my eye was the prayer boards that I stumbled upon by its entrance. While I could not read most of them as they are in Japanese, there were a few written in English. And one in particular made me smile (see right photo). I sincerely hoped that she got her wish, if she had not changed her mind at some point in her life yet. It made me want to write my own wish too. I wondered what that would be though. Maybe around being able to travel some more and of course for the children. I wish for them to have a full, promising future ahead of them. I wish that they would grow up to be kind persons, making a good contribution to our country and to the society and community they would find themselves in.
We spent so much time in Ueno that it would seem we would only be able to cover that for that day and perhaps a few other attractions. But lo and behold, we were up and about well into the night and managed to go to all of the places we've planned for that day.
Remember the old man I mentioned by the water fountain? He toured us a bit and even took us to Kappabashi Street which was not part of our itinerary. It was a good thing too because the place was absolutely delightful and should not be missed while in Tokyo. He probably pitied us and made sure we would be doing things right on our next stop ;) More of Kappabashi in my next entry. Here's sharing some more of the photos that we had while at Ueno.
Here's Ate Tata with the paddle boats in the background. We had several photos taken over here while we wait for the kids to finish with their ride across the pond.
Here's all the other prayer boards :) I wish I was able to buy one and scribbled my wishes as well. The temple was close though at that time. These boards had to be bought from there.
Mama outside Toshogu Shrine
I could stay here an entire day. It was just so peaceful. I fancy just whiling the time away writing or simply reading a book.
Mama Fely in one of the benches by the lotus pond. A tourist guide book relayed how the pond looks splendid in the summer with the lotus flowers blooming.
Catching the bus for Kappabashi Street :)
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