Our itinerary for today underwent a hasty revision after crawling out of bed part-way through the day. We leapt upon the now-familiar Tozai line into Tokyo. In an attempt to distract Joshie from his aversion to sitting and doing little on public transport, we offered our railway map for him to hold. Working a little too well, he denied his siblings access to said map in imperious tones, his grave frown dissuading them from any further attempts.
Not only are the trains devoid of any form of graffiti, they are also (apparently) choice locations for a bit of a kip. Locals get on board, take a seat - and within minutes their heads are lolling forwards in slumber, swaying left and right in time with the acceleration and deceleration of the train. One poor young girls head would make a soft bonging sound as it gently collided with one of the metal carriage posts. Lily was fascinated.
Our destination today was the East Garden of the Imperial Palace - right in the centre of Tokyo. The older two kids had a camera each - and went a little snap-happy. Joshie delighted in the opportunity to run - at length. We fortunately avoided any inadvertent dips in the Imperial Moat or breaches of Palace security.
Martin kiddies in front of a ye olde Guard House.
East Garden.
We were approached by a Japanese gentleman in a white floppy hat, whose internal struggle with burning curiosity and extreme politeness was something to behold. After establishing that we were from Australia - he earnestly sought confirmation whether kangaroos and koalas wandered the streets. While I could not confirm city malls festooned with marsupials, I did advise that should he find himself driving in the Australian countryside of an evening - he may well be plagued with kangaroos leaping across the road. He was rapt.
Kimono-clad lady with parasol
- moments later started taking snaps with her iPhone.
Team Martin
Really big wall
- I heard the Emperor reeeally dislikes his neighbours.
We made our way along to Nijubashi Bridge, the security so tight that I wondered how the Emperor gets pizza home-delivered. Poor man.
How to use traffic bollards as play equipment.
Nijubashi Bridge
It was getting late as we returned home, and we are now growing used to the overly-confident cyclists who careen along footpaths and major motorways with equal abandon (how they manage to do this whilst remaining unceasingly polite is beyond me). I picked up some Shochu (a form of Japanese spirit) to have with dinner this evening. We practised moderation as we are heading to Disneyland in the morning - and would not like to be visiting the Happiest Place on Earth (tm) with a hangover.
