Tokyo Jaunt, p.3: スカイツリーと花見 Sky Tree and Hanami 7/04/2012

Friends Forever - two best friends enjoying the weird Japanese sweets shaped like 竹の子take-no ko (top of the bamboo). We decided to call them szyszki, pine cones in Polish. Pink one was supposed to be strawberry flavour.

Setting off from Sensō-ji, in the direction of the magnificent Sky Tree

Hanami (flower viewing) on the river bank. Note the horribly blue foil spread underneath the trees (sitting space).

Golden poo, golden worm, or maybe a windswept candle? Futuristing design of Asahi Beer Hall by Phillip Stark proved still as puzzling as ever. 

It seemed to be so　close, just behind the corner... Took us AGES to get close to it!

Hanami... I'm not a big fan of flowers of any kind, but there is a tear in my eye when I remember how pretty and pink it actually was there.

How much I wished I had a proper camera which would focus on the tree and 'smudge' the tree... Would have been a great picture.

When we finally found it, it really was impressively big. So big it didn't want to fit in for the picture!

Art in the service of recycling: an example what one could do with some waste and talent. It's important not to waste any talent. (huhuhu, sorry, couldn't resist a lame joke)

Isn't that beautifully subtle? (especially considering the material used?)

AHA! - bellowed my best friend upon noticing a kebab place. Apparently, the Turks had discovered the Land of the Blossoming Cherry.

Tokyo Jaunt, pt.1: 皇居, The Imperial Palace, 6/04/2012

A month after an actual trip, but finally here, it's picture time! It was one hell of a spontaneous trip to Tokyo, with a very cheap hotel booked a day before and the night bus from Kyoto booked 5 hours before departure. It was a lot of fun, and proved it is possible to travel on a budget, even last-minute and to not that cheap of a place like Tokyo.

One of the bridges leading to Imperial Gardens

One of my first sakura, as fresh as a... daisy (huh-huh-huh, sorry, couldn't resist)

A bird amongst the flowers. I was really proud of my little idiot camera that managed to capture the moment!

Entering the Gardens.

Foundation of the old Edo period shogun palace. (During Bakufu, the shogunate, the Emperor was based in Kyoto and had virtually no power)

Very weird building on the Palace Grounds. I wish I knew what that was, there was no way to find out.

Very interesting Occidental lantern in Art Noveau style, looks like the relic of the Meiji period occidental fascination. The sign says it's an electric lantern that was once placed by the main gate of the palace, nearby a stone bridge.

One of the old buildings on the Grounds.

The moat surrounding the Palace Grounds. With beautiful sakura on the bank.

The park outlooking the Imperial Grounds.

These two reminded me of some 1970' postcards In my grandpa's collection! Even the colour pallette is correct!

The main gate leading to the famous stone bridge and a glimpse of the palace...

... but after walking over 5km around the palace in burning sun, we were too tired and hungry to go in and check yet another gate. Of course, ironically, that was the one we were looking for! Oh well, next time!

To make the long walk around the palace more enjoyable, there are 47 paving stones with depictions of flowers (or fruits) characteristic for every prefecture.

For the incurably curious - the list of characteristic flowers and fruits.

The journey has just begun... Please, come and check the other parts soon!

From Tokyo with Love

Regards from Tokyo at the height of the cherry blossom season, where the blossoms are simply everywhere, followed by the Japanese - eating, drinking and excessively photographing them from underneath! I'm so lucky to be able to witness the season twice this year - here now and in a week in Kyoto!

 
On the footnote - Tokyo is much more fun than I had expected. I really like it a lot! (an this is an unlikely phrase you ever get from a grumpy traveller - proves how impressed I actually am).

北野天満宮 - Kitano Tenmangu shrine in full bloom, 14/03/2012

Can you see these hands with cameras? Of course you can. Welcome to flower-viewing in Japan...

Every time I'm taking a picture against the sun and achieve wonderful effects by complete accident and sheer luck, I hear my father's voice: never directly in the sun, you'll overexpose the film...

 

The white flowers smell the most delightfully, in my opinion!

This 狛犬, komainu, shrine guardian dog, looks very content indeed!

The dusk, as usual falling far too quickly here, compared to Europe...