Japan wrap-up

One Saturday in March, my friend Laura and I left our kids with their dads and went to Tokyo for the day. First we stopped in Ueno park and saw a few of the sites.
Then we headed over to the outdoor flea market and shopped for a few hours. We both bought purses and a few other items. We also ate lunch at a good Indian restaurant.
Then back to the park to see a bit more (it really reminded me of Central Park in NY):


Then we headed off to the kitchen district to to do some more shopping, then off to Ginza (the fashion district) to browse and find some dinner. We ate at a Sukiyaki restaurant where you cook your food at the table in a pot of broth. It was a lot of fun but apparently we were not doing it the correct way as the waiter kept coming over to "help" us out.

This is the Ginza district which is a little like Times Square with all the shops and lights and huge video displays:


but a little weirder...


This is the first week of the Plum Festival (it last for 3 weeks), we went up to the Plum Grove and could see the blossoms just starting to come out:

The older kids loved the obstacle course but it made me a bit nervous.







So I sat up in the grass with Tristan:

He crawled down a little hill and started to roll (and wasn't too happy about it):
Here are pics from when the dads took the kids to Godzilla park:





And finally here is the izakaya (a pub) that is right next door to our apartment. We ate here several times and they have the best fried chicken ever!
The menu in Japanese, thankfully they have one in English too.
Looking out to the kitchen/bar area.