Ueno - Mar 1

Today we got up and breakfasted in our room again, and Sean came around 10 a.m. to guide us in the use of the subway (he didn't work until noon today). We took the train to Ueno Park, a large park, famous for it's long aisle of cherry trees in blossom time. It is early for cherry blossoms, but a couple of trees were putting on a brave try at it. Hopefully at the end of the month, just before we go home, we'll be able to see a more impressive showing.

We walked by Shinobazu Pond and out to the middle to see the little Bentodo temple there. The pond is a thing of beauty in late July when the lotus are blooming. Right now the lotus are a little sad looking - some dead sticks in the pond. I did read some Trip Adviser postings whining about not being able to see the water in the pond because the lotus were so abundant. I guess we'll never see that, because Sean says August is so hot and humid, it is unbearable here. So that's when he comes home for a visit.

Next stop was the Ueno Zoo so we could see the panda. We saw some hippos, elephants, a funny looking stork, flamingo, Jackass Penguins (the name obviously comes from their call, which is pretty much a bray) and various other animals along the way. We also a large number of pre-school or kindergarten children. Each class was wearing an ear-flap cap of a different colour (blue, pink, green, yellow, etc.) so there were little groups of bobbing heads all the same colour spread throughout the zoo. They have two giant panda. Shin Shin was quite photogenic, laying back and eating bamboo, but his friend was just an unmovable blob.

After the zoo we stopped at Starbucks in Ueno Park to pick up a quick sandwich so Sean could get off to work.

Then Dave and I went to Tokyo National Museum. We spent a few hours wandering through it's exhibits which showed the history of Japan via it's art throughout the ages, Besides things like scrolls, screens and statues it included military attire and weapons (think samuri),  kimono and kabuki costumes, lacquerware, and terra cotta tomb ornaments. We were exhausted by the end so patronized the museum cafe for tea and an ice cream sandwich (green tea ice cream stuffed with plum paste, I think, though it could have been red bean paste).
Then Dave and I put our training to use and took the subway back to our hotel. Time for another tea upstairs here before Sean came over after work. Dave and I were both pretty much worn out (we'd walked about 6 1/2 miles) so just went for dinner in our hotel.