Party in Tokyo, Baby (Day 1)

So Casey decided it would be fun take a little test known as the LSAT this month. Sounds fun, right? It was in Tokyo on the 8th, so we decided to make a family vacation out of it. We couldn't be gone too long because of his work (and the fact that Tokyo is a bit pricey) so we went from Dec. 6-8. The flight was two hours, during which we learned that our little BridgeBug is now an airplane monster. In other words, he just wanted to run around, squirm, pull pamphlets and magazines out of the chair pockets, and fuss. So that was fun.

We made it to the city and found our hotel via the metro easily. Thank heavens for that! I'm so glad Casey is a champ with maps, directions, and metros! I am a hopeless navigator. (Although I did brave the metro by myself while Casey was taking his exam and ended up where I intended to! Here's to small victories! )

After checking in, we went exploring. Our first stop was Tokyo Tower. Didn't even know this existed. It's pretty much a ripoff of the Eiffel Tower, but the fact that I seriously love the Eiffel Tower made this a happy surprise. Tokyo Tower is a bright red communications and observation tower. I actually just read that it's 13 meters taller than the Eiffel Tower, which I hadn't realized when we were there. There were Christmas decorations, trees, and music to celebrate the season. We went to the top and got some fun pics.

Wow, that was a lot of pics. And it won't end there (fair warning...) We then walked down the road to a shrine nearby. A religious ceremony was being held, and we were able to see a bit of it. A couple of men were sitting in a row chanting. Another was sitting in the front with a drum of sorts. It was fascinating to hear. We also came across these small, childlike statues all lined up in a row wearing individualized beanies. 

We went to an area of Tokyo called Ginza (if memory serves me correctly...) which is the area for shopping, particularly if you're loaded. Stores in the area included Harry Winston, Tiffany's, Chanel, etc. Ginza reminded me of a mini version of Times Square. We weren't interested in shopping (as we'd have to sell our very souls to buy something anyway) but we did want to find something to eat. Interestingly, we had a killer time trying to find restaurants in Tokyo. You'd think they'd just be on the street like other cities, but they are hidden away in small buildings (where each floor is a different store or restaurant.) You would have to hike narrow flights of winding stairs to get to some. It was so strange. 

But anyway, Ginza failed us in the food department. We were looking for Italian of some sort. We found one sign and hiked the stairs, only to find it was no longer in existence (Grrr...sixth floor, I believe.) We then tried another place, closer to our hotel, but it was smoke-filled. Ew.

We ended up kind of getting ambushed by a restaurant worker on the streets trying to recuit customers. So we decided to give it a try (ya know, since he was accompanying us up to his restaurant's floor...) It ended up being a good choice, for the most part anyway. We got rice with eggs for Bridger, chicken, a personal pizza, and onion rings. Good and healthy, baby. Oh yeah, and complementary edimame. Except for the fact that the edimame and just being seated at a table actually came with a surprise charge! So that was interesting. Not sure if that's typical or if we just got the Gaijin special, but that was funny. 

So that was our adventurous first day in Tokyo!

Bridger was in no mood to sit, so we fed him as he walked around the table.