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Heading Home

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On our last morning, we woke to sun streaming through the window. With a forecast of 8 degrees maximum, it was still going to be cold. Every morning  we have been closely watching the house being built next door to us. They have done 2 storeys in 4 days. That would certainly not happen in Australia! Angus was desperate for one last breakfast at Doutor, a japanese cafe chain he had discovered with Clint on their first morning. We wandered down the road to our local shop for a hot drink and 3 cheese, egg and bacon sandwiches. Delicious! We'll definitely be trying to make these again at home. After checking out of our apartment,  we caught the train to Tokyo station. We had a few hours to kill, so walked the shops in the indoor mall to while away the time. Lunch was our last Family Mart selection of duck skewers, salad and egg sandwiches! Our bus to Narita airport took just over an hour and we then had about 4 hours to waste before board
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Last Day in Tokyo

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Today was our last full day in Tokyo. Again we woke to the sound of rain and a forecast of a maximum temperature of 10 degrees. Brrr! Not wanting to spend the day sitting around doing nothing, we thought we'd see what we could find within walking distance of our place. The Fukagawa Edo Museum nearby had displays of the Edo period of 150 years ago. We were lucky enough to have a guide who spoke English to take us through the display. A life-sized recreated village showed how life was back then. Children aged over 10 were sent out to work and the average height for a female was 145cm and a male 155cm. Inside the village, we got to look at the vegetable and rice traders huts, the row houses for the common workers and see the conditions people lived in. It was fascinating. We really are so lucky with all the modern appliances, power, running water and toilets that we now have. (Especially the heated toilet seats in Japan - why don't we have these in Australi
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Tokyo Trick Art Museum

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Today was another cold and wet day, so we decided to find somewhere indoors to explore. The Tokyo Trick Art Museum came up on a search and looked like fun. The small gallery space had all sorts of trick backgrounds where you could stand or pose in certain spots to get a really fun photo. It took only about an hour to work our way through, but we had a lot of fun. There weren't many other people there, so we didn't have to compete to get a good shot. By the time we had finished, we were ready for lunch. We hadn't had any soba noodles in Japan, so found a local restaurant where this was their specialty. We each ordered a different sort - Ella had cold noodles with raw egg, daikon and leek, Clint had hot chicken curry noodles, Angus had hot duck and leek and I had cold noodles with mixed vegetables and pickles. They were each very different,  but all delicious! With full bellies, we explored th
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Tokyo Fish Market

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This morning we woke up to a cold and wet Tokyo morning. Winter is certainly on its way! With a maximum of 13 degrees and 70% chance of showers, we weren't going to plan too much outdoors. The old fish market at Tsukiji was on my list of places to visit, so we thought this might be a good activity to do today. Only 1 train station and about 1km walk, it wasn't too far and worked up an appetite. When we arrived, it was already packed with locals and tourist, buying fresh fish, meat and vegetables, sushi, cooked food and sake. We did a lap around and then started to do some tasting of our own. Angus had a cheese croquette, Ella a squid skewer and egg omlette roll, Clint a scallop skewer and I had eel. With lots of other free samples of pickles, nuts, sencha tea and dried fish, we were sated. It was only 11am! Clint and I found a boutique coffee roaster, which was great. On the whole, Japanese coffee isn't that good.
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Kawaii Tokyo

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Today we explored the kawaii or cute side of Tokyo. After a sleep in, we caught the train to Harijuku, about 30 minutes away. This area is known for being a bit alternative and trendy. When Ella and I were here about 10 days ago, we came across a hedgehog cafe, that I said I'd bring both the kids back to. Today was the day.  The place we visited had baby hedgehogs,  chinchillas, squirrels, otters and rabbits. We had 30 mins to feed and cuddle as many as we could, minus the otters and squirrels, which are too vicious. The chinchillas were amazingly soft and the hedgehogs were gorgeous. It was a really amazing experience to hold them. The animals were really well looked after and seemed very healthy. It wasn't busy either, so there weren't too many other people there. Ella and Angus really enjoyed it. After our cuddles and hot drink, we went in search of the famous rainbow cheese sandwich! Thi
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