Tokyo Adventure IV- Day #7: Ueno, Akihabara, Asakusabashi and Asakusa

Hey Everybody!  I had to skip updating the blog this morning (or is it yesterday morning?)  because it was our last day in Tokyo and we still had a lot to do.  We had to clean up, pack, and get ready to do last minute stuff before heading to the airport, so I didn't want to lose time by working on my blog. Hopefully I will remember everything we did the day before!  I will use the photos to jog my memory.

So Day #7 began with some dessert for breakfast?  Grandma went to pick up breakfast while I worked on my blog post.  She came back with this cake duo.  It was so good! I think I like Japanese desserts cause they aren't too sweet and very light!  This was a chocolate cake and a white cake with fruity filling.  Both were so good.  Yep, from 7-11!

It was our last full day in Japan, so we had to make it count!  We still didn't go see the ume yet, which was Grandma's special request, so we headed to an area just south of Ueno to catch the ume festival at the shrine.  On our way, I saw this poster.  Still amazed by Japanese posters.  LOL!  Wish I knew what it says!

Once we found the temple, we were greeted with an amazing site!

There were so many ume trees in bloom around and inside the temple.

These are real ume bonsais!

Amazing how many people come to visit during the weekday.  They had food vendors too!

Someone was getting married in the middle of the festival.  I would've done that too!  I can just imagine how beautiful their pictures will come out.

Here's a panoramic of the temple grounds.

I'm not sure what the background is, but the students often visit blooming ume trees... it has something to do with passing their exams.  Paul mentioned something about getting scholarships too, so we thought it wouldn't hurt to make a donation.  First you put in your donation, then you bow, then clap 2xs, then bow again.

 Might as well drink the water for good luck too.

Here's one of all of us!

Love the pathway lined with ume trees!  Many blessings!

And if you follow me on facebook, you saw our ume selfie!

After the ume viewing, Paul wanted to go to the "IT" shrine.  What?  They have their own shrine? LOL!  He made us walk up these steps.

Look how steep it was!! I made it!! I deserve a medal. 

Good thing we trained walking up to Imiloa.

We made it!

He had to go give offering to ensure no IT issues. LOL!

This is where you leave your fortune if its a bad one.  I've never seen one in a heart shape before!

At the entrance, there were horse statues, and inside, we saw this pony!  I don't know what the significance is of the pony, but he was cute.

We entertained ourselves while Paul figured out which omomori is the one for IT professionals.

Then he had to take one too...

Ok here's where I get a little lost on what happened....  I know we stopped off to eat, but not sure where we were!  All I know is that we ended up seeing a Little Mermaid bakery sign, so we decided to eat there for lunch.  Believe me, we had a lot more on our tray, but for some reason, this is the only picture I had.  After we ate, I went back to get some sweet ones to take home.

 

I kept seeing this lady on the subways and trains.  Love that she can still rock the red hair.  Later on I found out she is an artist that had an exhibition going on.  

All I can say is thank goodness there was an escalator!  Those stairs would've killed me!

Sorry to bombard you with all the train posters, but they just fascinate me~  What the hell is coming out of their eyes?

 So after all the shrines, I think we went to Asakusabashi to hit Shimojima!  I didn't get to go there yet and needed some stuff, so I was happy we had time to go.  The family decided to rest at a nearby cafe while I hit the store.  I got some much needed double stick tape for just 79 yen each!!  So worth it.

OK, now I suspect we went back to the room to rest and pick up the omiyage for our dinner that night with Ai.  Was finally able to get a photo of the "creepy cat" and "semi-creepy" dog that Akemi kept talking about.  We had to pass these two statues everyday on our way to the station.  For some reason the cat had flowers around its neck the first day, but it was removed after that.

After resting up a bit, we headed to Asakusa for dinner.  Paul had to drop off omiyage to the studio so we parted ways and did some last minute shopping in Nakamise.  Grandma wanted to get some arare after tasting the one that Paul bought.  He also mentioned that he found a good melon pan place around the corner from the arare store, so we set out to find it.  It was soooooo good!  It was smaller than the one we usually get but it was warm.. and that made all the difference.

Then we headed to Mister Donut!  For some reason we haven't seen too much of them around during this trip, so I dragged them there to have at least one before we leave.

Introduced Grandma to the pon de ring donut... our favorite!

My friend told me that Liliha bakery makes a mochi donut too.. I will have to try that the next time I visit home.

Since Paul finished up early, he met us at Mister Donut.  On our walk through Nakamise, we found another owl cafe. Since we had time to kill before dinner, we decided to check it out since they had other animals too.  This one had a cover charge and no time limit.  The owls were just out on handrails and some were just loose around the cafe.  It was amazing how many they had in there.  I think it said they had 30 different owls.  

This guy was so little!

This one looked like Hedwig... but he was very active!

They even had turtles!

This guy was just cruising on the bench.  Paul thought it was a fake one, but I told him I saw it move.

They even had iguanas!  I think that's why Grandma didn't want to come.

Everyone was hogging time with these cuties.  They were tiny owls.

They also had a hedgehog that was hiding, snakes, a meerkat, and ferret.  After that, we headed to Kaminarimon to meet Ai.  She took us to a katsu place in Nakamise. 

I ordered the specialty... Its kind of like ground meat- similar to hamburger, but I don't think it was beef.  It was good!

Paul had the combo with everything.

Grandma had the tonkatsu with shrimp katsu.

Akemi had the usual chicken kastu.  Poor thing, she ended up getting sick during dinner, so we had to cut dinner short.  She had a case of acid reflux that appeared to be really bad and lasted awhile.

Luckily, Ai chan was able to help us get some medicine for her and eventually she started to feel better.  Sorry Ai for cutting dinner short!  We ended up catching a taxi back to the room since we weren't sure if Akemi could handle the train ride.  She started feeling better by the time we got home and felt a lot better the next day.

 Somehow Akemi managed to be in these pictures.  Poor thing!  At least she felt better before going to bed.

Our trip is winding down and we only have one day left to share.  Will try to finish it up soon so that I don't just forget about it!