Day 1 Tokyo - Fantastic

Hi All,

We've had a fantastic Day 1 in Tokyo. We explored the very large and beautiful Ueno Park, seeing many temples and museums as well as getting some great food.  We had our first Tokyo subway experience and it really is the most impressive transportation system ever.  The stations are huge and multi-level, and it really gives the true Sci-Fi feel when seen all this here. The big stations are almost like shopping/eating malls as well and we actually ate dinner at a random place in the subway station and it was wonderful. We even met some business man that was very nice to help us with the menu, and then after we ate and he asked if we liked it and where we were from; we said "California" and he said "oh nice, no wonder you know how to use chopstick". Everything is busy yet calm with chimes that are like pleasant midi music happening everywhere; there are no obnoxious subway horns like we think of normally.  This is a big yet quiet city. We saw a very impressive peony garden at one of the temples in the park as well. They really know how to keep things pristine here. I think its the cleanest city we've ever seen. Wondering around on foot we found many other temples and some impressive cemeteries.  We also went to the famous Park Hyatt New York Bar on top for a drink, a great view,  and some jazz music. It was just a must having seen "Lost in Translation".  We finished with a fun night out in Shinjuku sampling several bars and meeting some very cool people. Here are some pictures from the day.

At Shinjuku Station

One of the man hi-tech vending machines they have everywhere here.

Ueno Park

Peony Garden

 

Peony Garden

Temple in Ueno Park

A fabulous snack in the park

Sculpture at the Metropolitan Art Museum

Random Graveyard in Taito Town

Random Graveyard in Taito Town

Tokyo Tower form the Ueno Park Lakes

Flavored toasts sold in at deli in the Ueno Station

In a subway train - They devote every space possible to advertising here

Shinjuku Tower which hold the Park Hyat - Good illustration of how this is a 3-D city.

In the Park Hyatt

Top of the Park Hyatt

Subway station treats a plenty

FlightTrack Pro: Air Canada 1 - Toronto to Tokyo

12 more hours in Executive First on AC1 in the newer 777-300ER configuration! Then we will be in Tokyo and all our city familiarity goes out the window!  

You can track the flight now to view its progress in the skies. If you already have FlightTrack installed, you can track it in the app.

LANDS 3M EARLY

AIR CANADA (AC) 1

2:10 EDT PM — 3:55 GMT+9 PM

ARRIVES NRT APR 17 TERMINAL 1 GATE --

via FlightTrack Pro

Air Canada Executive First

Air Canada's Newer Executive First Lie Flat configuration on 767-300s!
This is our flight to Toronto from Buenos Aires on the way to Tokyo!

 

 

 

 

Ciao!

The time has come for us to say goodbye to Buenos Aires and move on in
our journey to Tokyo. We have had a superb time here and would highly
recommend visiting this place. The city is vast and full of things to
discover. The food is amazing and the people are fun and easy going!

A wonderful night of dining!

Our first stop was La Brigada, featured on Bizarre Foods with Anderw
Zimmern. We had amazing grilled meats and yes, cow balls (criadillas)!
Now for dessert we are at the beautiful Cafe Tortoni having a classic
drink called Submarino, steamed milk with a bar of chocolate you drop
in and melt. This café also has tango shows in a theatre that is below it.

 

 

 

 

Buenos Aires Nightlife

Just to give a quick idea of the typical night here. Dinner is not earlier than about 10PM, 11PM or even as late as Midnight on weekends.  The bars and clubs don't get going until at the earliest 1AM, but crowds happen at about 2AM. Most of the clubs don't let out until 5AM or 6AM, at which time you can get more food. Most of the Gay clubs we been to have been quite fun and generally full of fun people without attitude.  The music is fresh with DJs actually mixing music and there are secondary dance floors with remixes of US 70s and 80s songs.  The typical club will have a cover door charge but you usually get one free drink with it which is about the price of the cover anyway. Some clubs have nights with what is called "Canilla Libre" or full open bar almost all night until 5AM for about 9 US $.

La Recoleta Cemetery

This is a famous cemetery in the Recoleta area of Buenos Aires. It is definitely the biggest we have ever seen and is in an elevated section of the city surrounded by a huge wall. The size makes it basically an outdoor museum. There are many famous people from Argentinian history buried here. The tombs are the most elaborate and large imaginable, some are almost like individual houses, even with staircases down into the ground.  These are just a few pictures we took here while we spent almost 2 hours exploring this site.

El Calafate Fun Facts

El Calafate is named after a berry which is local to the area. They say once you've tasted it you'll come back for more. I think this is true. It was truly a great place. Being the gateway to the National park for the glaciers in the area, it has super high tourism (Similar to say the Yosemite gateway towns in California). They somehow though seem to have done the growth and build up correctly.  The town was wonderful with amazing restaurants and lodging that were not gimmicky. We usually don't do guided tours, but we decided to for this and even it was super well done (Both in Spanish and English). I believe this is a must visit location. There are many more glaciers to visit besides the Perito Moreno one that we visited, and many different expeditions that start from El Calafate. Below find some pictures of our dining experience in El Calafate.  Can anyone guess what the first dish is?

???

Calafate Berry Ice Cream and Liqour, along with Panqueques de Dulce Del Leche

Traditional Yerba Mate tea service for two. Shared with the bombilla straw which filters the tea as you drink.

Some local Patagonia beers that were quite tasty.

Traditional Parilla (Grill) Technique

One of the most elegant bookstores...

This is El Ateneo, an old theatre converted into a bookstore and cafe. This is in the Recoleta Area of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Perito Moreno Glacier

An amazing day visiting this glacier. It is an a incredibly beautiful
sight with the landscape and colors changing by the minute. We even
got to see some big pieces break off into the water making incredibly
loud rumbles. The entire time you can hear the water running
throughout the glacier and the ice cracking.

Good Morning...

La Cantera Hotel, El Calafate - Patagonia

El Calafate

We are now in El Calafate and tomorrow we will tour the Perito Moreno Glacier!