5 Days in Japan: Day One and Two

Where to begin... Well, my mother in-law wanted to take a trip with us to Thailand originally, but, instead we decided on a 5 day stay in Japan! Sadly, my husband was not able to join us this time. So, our journey begins...

We got up early this morning, to catch the 2nd Narita, Japan flight. Sam greeted us as we waited at our gate before check in. After we got our seats, Sara and I looked out the window, and who do we see?! Daddy! Sam, was busily working to get our plane loaded. See him loading the bags...

 He also helped to guide the plane into position for takeoff. It was a nice way to say goodbye for 5 days. We love you Daddy and see you soon! After our 3 hour flight, we arrived safely into Narita International Airport and made our way out of customs, etc. and onto our shuttle for the APA Hotel. The weather was a cool 53 degrees. We loved it!

Since it was too early to check into our hotel, we decided to just leave our bags securely with them and make our way towards the Monzen Machi or Temple Streets on the way to Naritasan Shinshoji Temple. We took a taxi halfway, since I can't walk the full length. So, we got dropped off halfway.

 There were so many interesting shops with food vendors, and cute Japanese souvenirs...

 I spotted a cute vintage Panda mascot at this one shop. Just adorable. I made sure to take a pic of him.

 Sara and Taby wanted to check this cute zen area, which was actually a walkway into a side restaurant. It was very peaceful looking.

 There was one shop where these young chefs, perhaps were cutting up eel and preparing them to be barbecued.

 The streets were narrow, but very neat and reminiscent of the old times. Lots of people were walking along and enjoying the sites, just as we were.

 Sara tried this stalls Milk flavored drinks. She chose, strawberry, of course! There was a huge "Lucky Cat" by this shop.

 The weather was nice and cool too. Inside, this bucket were fish, that would come up for air and then dive back down.

We were close to the Naritasan Temple. Look at the buildings!

 

 Right beside the entrance way, we saw this pond with lots of turtles gravitating towards a rock to bask in the warmth of the sun.

 

 I chose to sit and watch as Judy, Sara and Taby made their way up the narrow steps of the temple. Lots of visitors too.

We decided to catch a taxi to Aeon Mall again. While Judy had some delicious looking soba noodles, Sara and Taby had McD's of course, and I got, yakisoba and sushi.

 We looked around the usual places, and then got some snacks for the hotel room. Sara wanted the Caplico strawberry and chocolate treats, I opted for fresh strawberries and pineapples. But of course I made sure to get a big Caplico with what I thought was mint and chocolate, but it was something else? LOL

 The view outside our hotel window of the streets below.

 The hotel room was very small, I've never stayed in one like this before... almost like a capsule hotel room. Just a small hallway, to the bed up against the wall, across from it was a TV, fridge, and small desk. The bathroom was also very tiny. But, it was better than nothing.

 Taby and I shared a room, while Sara and Judy shared the one next door to us.

 I started to watch a old Japanese drama movie... To my surprise, it had Pose dolls in it?! Wow!

We woke up early and got ready for breakfast. Sara decided to come stay with me while Judy and Taby went to see how far it was to get to the train station for Osaka.

 The APA had some very nice items for breakfast. You can't see some of it, but besides my Yakisoba, I got a salad, bread roll, potato latkies, macaroni salad, and fries. LOL

 Very filling too. Sara was trying to learn how to use chopsticks with Taby as instructor.

We took a taxi to the train station to catch the subway to the bullet train we would catch to make our way to Osaka.

 It was not easy and we made some errors, but we did make it to our bullet train reserved seats and waited to start the 3 hour journey to Osaka.

 Car #14, Taby and I sat together, with Judy and Sara behind us. It was going to be a long journey, but at least it was comfortable.

 Leaving Narita...

We arrived to our exit and found our apt. not far away. This is a google shot. Sorry, I forgot to take a photo of the apartment we stayed in. Oh my, we even forgot to take photos of the inside. It was a very nice Japanese style apartment, with separate toilet and shower room, kitchenette, and dining area. The bed was futon style with a sofa sleeper. The part we didn't realize was how close the Tempozan Marketplace was?!

 After we left our bags and changed into our street clothes, we decided to turn the corner and, There was a snippet of a Ferris Wheel...

We decided to investigate and found Lego Discovery Land, Osaka Aquarium and the Marketplace.

 How cool is this large Giraffe made entirely of Legoes! So cool. We decided to have dinner here. Yup, that's Fujiya Milky dessert shop. I made sure we had some after dinner!

 Lots of the lights reminded me of Upper Tumon back on Guam. Not very crowded, we assumed it was close to closing time.

 I turned around and took a quick shot of this.

 We all had KFC, Judy had her noodles, and sushi.

 At least we knew we were close to places we could do a lot of sight seeing and check out...

 Of course after eating the girls wanted to try the Tempozan Ferris Wheel.

 It was already getting dark. But, we could see so many interesting things as the car we road rose up and up...

 The girls faces were enough for us to see they loved every moment of it. While I on the other hand started to freak out! I am not one for heights any more... ugh.

 It was very hard to get any good shots with the darkness. But you could see a bridge from were we were, the Osaka Harbor and all that was around us. As the Ferris Wheel got close to the ground again. We were making plans of all we would do tomorrow...

 We walked back to the Milky Soft Cream shop and got dessert!

 Taby treated us to a milky vanilla cone, and Taby got vanilla cup with sprinkles.

Universal Studios was close by as well, but I think just from what we observed here at Tempozan, we may just enjoy what is right here...

Thank you for reading. ~ ggsdolls