Day 7 - Last Full Day!

Sniff!  Our last full day in Japan!  I think we were completely dead tired by the time Friday arrived! lol

Woke up a little late so missed the auction at the Tsukiji Fish market!  We hauled ass out of the hotel at 6, didn't even bother to wake up Gabs. LOL  We took the Hibiya line to Tsukiji subway station.  Walked awhile to reach the fish market.  We already missed the auction by that time so we just walked through the market.  It was soooo busy for that time of the morning.

  Swamped with restaurant owners buying fish, tourists taking pictures, etc.  I didn't feel like wearing shoes that early in the AM and ended up wearing tsinelas.  Bad choice, I had fish crap all over my feet! lol 

After that, we bought our tix from the Keisei Ueno station to get back to the airport the next day.  It wasn't too hard to find out where to go since we're pros at the stations now. LOL

Went back to the hotel, got Gabs and headed to Mr. Donut so Gabs could get some breakfast.  From there, since most of the stores on Kappabashi-dori was still closed, we continued on to Asakusa - which is NOT very far from Ueno.  It is probably a 10-15 min. walk.  We arrived at Nakamise-dori, a street full of stores that sells Japan souvenirs and trinkets.

  Another place to buy more junk, but we did resist!!! hahaha Of course, it was packed with people

We continued through Nakamise which leads to Sensoji Temple.  I made sure that we went here because Ian Wright from GlobeTrekker came here and got a fortune!  I put 100 yen in the slot, take the can, shake it till a wooden stick with a symbol comes out from the bottom.  Match the symbol to the drawers and get your fortune from that drawer.. Welll, assuming I would get a "Not so good, Not so bad" fortune like at Sansujendo Temple, I ended up get a Bad FORTUNE. haha  I forgot what Ian Wright said to do with the bad fortune, so I just kept it in my bag. LOL  Later, I looked in my Frommer's book.  I'm suppose to tie the bad fortune outside the temple so the wind carries it away. So much for that! lol

We walked around for a bit, ate lunch at one of the food stalls.

  We ate yakisoba and yakitori.  I also tried this pizza looking thing which I later found out is called okonomiyaki.  It was good.  I think it had shrimp, onion, etc in it.  On top, the guy drizzled some sauce and sprinkled what looked like fish skin.  That thing was kinda salty so I just pushed it to the side.  I guess I shouldve taken a picture of it!

Next, we went back to Akihabara to actually go shopping, not window shopping.  :)  Again, Ant and I didn't really buy much because the electronics prices were the same prices as here in the U.S. (however, those were sale prices there).  I just got a few goodies for our fam, that's it.

  This Friday evening, there were alot of interesting characters out.  "Harajuku girls" were entertaining the crowd, of course there was so many people around them, so I have no idea what they were actually doing. 

We then headed over to Tokyo Metropolitan Government building.  The 45th floors of the two towers are open to visitors to see a bird's eye view of the city.  We didn't wait that long to get into the elevator.  It was very organized and no one shoved or pushed to get in.  When you get there, it's a huge open room and all sides have windows to view the city.  Just one side has a small restaurant, so you can't view from there unless you are eating.  There's also a souvenir area to buy stuff.  Anyway, so there's not much to do here but look, but we spent a good 30 min. just sitting down and resting.  Our feet was killing us!!

We walked back to the train station and took the JR to Shinjuku.

  The sun was already setting so it was nice to see crowds of teenagers and college kids hanging out around the area ready for Friday night.  There were SO many people crossing the street, and these are the crazy cross walks that cut diagonally through the intersection.   Again, another photo opp of a great Tokyo city scene missed coz there were so many people that I could not set up the tripod and I suck at night time shooting anyway.  

We took the JR to Shibuya.  This is the crossing that you'll see in a lot of movies.  Again, hordes of people at the station and crosswalk.  We walked up some street in the hopes of finding Alcatraz ER restaurant for dinner.  Our feet were aching, so Gabs and I took a rest stop while Anthony continued to trend up the street looking for that restaurant.

  He came back and said "No idea where Alcatraz ER, but Christon Cafe is a few feet away!!"  So tired and starving, we ended up at Christon Cafe, another restaurant recommended by Frommer's.  It is designed as a Catholic church with an altar, Stations of the Cross, a cabinet full of chalices, Mary Statue, pictures of Jesus, etc.  Man, Anthony was like "I hope it's not considered sacrilegious to eat here!" lol  They serve pasta dishes.  I ordered Joan de Arc drink which was ginger ale, vodka, and raspberry. OMG, it was SO GOOD.  For dinner, I ordered carbonara with penne noodle.  Haven't eaten pasta in awhile! So delicious.  After that, we headed back to Oak Hotel for the last nite in Tokyo. :(