Tokyo, October 16

The end of our perfect day...

So here is how it started...
Bill finally had one full day.  So we took him to the Senso-Ji Temple first.  I have already posted a pictures of Senso-Ji with Caroline and I so I will just include the ones with Bill with us and the ones Bill took.  
After that, we went to the Imperial Palace, then Meijii Temple.  Those pictures are at the end.  Don't miss those because we just happened to show up during a traditional Japanese wedding ceremony.  Bill got great pictures.

One of the urns where you burn your wishes.

We bought kimonos for our boys, Billy, Jerry and Patrick.  Not showing them because I don't want to ruin the surprise.  The staff was really helpful.

Next we went to the Imperial Palace.  The inside is closed to the public.  The grounds and park are beautiful.  Right in the middle of the business district.

As you can see, we had perfect weather.

One of the gates to the palace.

After the Imperial palace, we headed to the Meijii Temple.  It is located right next to the hip-trendy section where all the teens congregate.  We hit the temple first, I have to say that Caroline and I are burned out on old-awesomely-beautiful temples...

Bill missed Kyoto, so we headed to Meijii...

Caroline messing around (as usual) with Bill while I am trying to get the picture-perfect shot in front of another beautiful Torii gate at Mejii Temple.

It took us about 20 minutes to get to the temple.  Caroline and I were getting irritated because, as I said, we are burned out on these things.  So I just sat in a corner while Bill looked around.

Suddenly...

A beautiful, traditional Japanese wedding ceremony.

One of the adorable guests...

After the temple, we headed to the trendy shopping district.  I was looking for the crazy-dressed Japanese kids that I keep hearing about.  They are the "Cos-play" tens.  "Cos-play" is "costume-play."  It is wild.  We didn't get shots of most them but we were able to get a small representation.

Most of the cos-players don't dress scary like this.  Most we saw looked like Little Bo-Peep.  One was even carrying around a stuffed cow with her outfit. Most looked like the these below.  Really cute.

We had dinner reservations at the Teppanyaki resaturant at the hotel that night.  This one was a really good one.  It is not a "showtime" teppanyaki with dry meat and shrimp.  The food was really great.  I am still doing the vegetarian thing (I run about 70-80%).  I stuck with shrimp tempura because Bill and Caroline got steak.  Theirs came with sushi.  I knew that I would get it, so I didn't have to order the teppanyaki.  

I have actually converted to sushi.  It is not like I crave it or anything, but I hated it even just a couple years ago when we were in Hawaii.  I vowed though to keep trying.  When the fish is this fresh, it is totally different. 

We were exhausted after 10 hours of touring...

I got a chaser in case the sushi was not for me....

Caroline had a virgin daquiri...

Will she eat it???

I like it, I like it!! Notice that I have two dishes.  I got both Caroline and Bill's..

So, as you know, I tell the hosts that it is somebody's birthday whenever we are at a great restaurant.  The night before I told them it was Caroline's birthday, then I realized that it is actually Bill's birthday!  His birthday is October 29.  So, I let them know so we had a terrific celebration for Bill's birthday.

Happy Birthday Bill!!