Guide Map


View Around the World in 80 (+7) Days! in a larger map

The Yellow Pin is where we currently are, with some delay. Points of interest will also be added as we visit them and lodging ones are already there. Click on blue flight segment lines for flight info and real time tracking (lighter segments are completed). Red Segments have train info and green are for car segments.

History


It all started with the winning of 2 first class Continental RTW tickets from the American Express Wishlist way back in 2007 equivalently delivered with 560K miles. 6 years later with the merger of United and Continental, topping off the account to 700K miles with credit card offers, and a planned Leave of Absence from work, this trip is actually taking place starting 4/3/2013 and ending 6/28/2013.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Tokyo is spectacular

Day 2 and 3 here have been just as fun as the first, and this place just keeps amazing us. Its the closest I've felt to being in the movie "The 5th Element", for those that have seen it.  We've explored many more parks and gardens, temples, and tourist attractions.  One of the craziest things here is the amount of vending machines on the street. There are at least 2 in every block. They have hot and cold products and Jose is so excited by them that we have probably tried like 10 -15 different things out of them. We never really can tell ahead of time what we are getting, so its like a mystery box. The funniest was a hot can of corn chowder. The city's infrastructure is absolutely incredible and things are so big it just is mind boggling. The nightlife is quite odd in general.  Every night but Friday and Saturday are pretty dead, but these people party very hard on Friday and Saturday nights.  There is also a strange fascination with Mexican food here and it shows up in very odd ways. Also German Potato Salad and Pizza... go figure...  And for those that think Sushi is the Japanese food... nope... we've hardly even seen sushi restaurants.  We love the train/subway system. Its so vast you can just get anywhere you want from anywhere and in multiple ways.

One infamous vending machine

The corn chowder can, corn kernels included...

park gate entrance to the Meiji Shrine, amazing forest park and the shrine sits about a 1/2 mile back into it.

Meiji Shrine

Tokyo Tower - 250m high.  We went to the top viewing deck

The Shrines and Temples are so big this is what they look like from 250m high

We don't know what this building is, but from the Tokyo Tower it looks like a grounded spaceship

We visited the newer Sky Tree Tower Tower in the evening.  Absolutely incredible. Its so futuristic and 450m tall. Many pictures below. It is surrounded by what is called Sky Tree Town which includes a train station, gigantic modern new mall with the most high quality food we've seen in one place (even comparing to Harrod's in London).






Dinner pictured: Fried Tofu Nuggets, Some crazy sushi roll with something fried in it, and ... Taco Rice (this one is mind boggling and hilarious at the same time). Taco seasoned beef, cheese, spicy salsa, mayo, avocado, Doritos, and below a mound of rice and lettuce to mix in.


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