We decided to breakfast in the hotel and discovered that we were to get a surprise: 

consome, rice, hamburger and tomato sauce, salad, yoghurt and strawberry jam, and tea.  Yum!

Then we were off  and headed towards the Senso-Ji Shrine.  On the way we came across rickshaws pulled by strong young men:

shops with very tempting bowls for sale:

tradition nestled beside modernity:

 

 

We saw biscuits being made:

And then we were at the shrine with crowds of other tourists:

I had to waft smoke all over myself to wish away my aches and pains:

 

( and though I look it due in part to my bad posture, I am not pregnant)

and make wishes at various sites

I am sure that a lot of the images that we saw there will reappear in my future art:

 

I especially loved this monument of a woman who helped the poor and promoted education for women:

As we were leaving, we discovered some old ladies in wheel chairs out with their carers.  One of them wanted her picture taken and with a lot of giggling, they helped her out of her chair and she painfully manipulated herself into position to pose:

 
We wandered out into a world of tourist shops:

But were more interested in cheese and green tea icecreams.

And then we made the mistake of wandering over to the Ueno Park without using a map.  This took us through back streets as tidy and clean as the main streets.

Partly through the hike, we succumbed to hunger and picked a restaurant based on the number of office-workers frequenting it.  Although we spotted prosciutto ham on the counter, we took another of our pot-luck picks at a meal, with the help of another friendly waiter who didn't speak English.

 

We think we had a mushroom and pork stew with rice, pickle and salad, mushroom soup and tea..... and it tasted good.

After getting lost, footsore, hot and exhausted, we finally found the park, only to discover that the art museums were all shut for the day. 

Bob did his good deed for the day by returning lit mosquito coils which had fallen off the back of a cyclist's basket (?!), we had a drink at the local Starbucks and people watched, we discovered a homeless camp in a secluded spot, and we took more photos.  This time of the Green Festival:

We discovered more temples where people made wishes for their love ones:

 

And finally, caught the train home for a little rest!

Tokyo- continued

We spent the rest of the day wandering round Asakusa, and discovering a world of drum shops, knife shops, expensive fruit shops, shrine shops, and rickshaw shoe shops.  I can't understand why the Japanese aren't enormous.  There are so many food shops selling sweet cakes. We avoided those but succumbed to iced green teas.  No one eats or smokes in the street, but they do in the restaurants, which is a bit of a shock to us non-smokers. We were pleased to see traces  of the past linger - a man in traditional attire including the raised wooden sandals, a woman in a kimono,  workmen wearing towel scarves on their heads.  We were relieved to see real bicycles being ridden by young and old.  No fancy gears, no lycra and no super expensive bikes or helmets.  Just plain old pedal power and ordinary riders.

At night we explored the back streets and discovered alleys broken by traditional houses, people getting merry after work, lanterns everywhere, and more food shops.  It is wonderful how safe we feel wandering around even quiet areas.  Turns out there are a lot of homeless street people in the city, but they are not intrusive or abusive.  They have a quiet dignity and are very neat and tidy as they settle down in their little cardboard shelter for the night.  Must be awfully cold in winter.  As usual, I wonder about their histories, and how a little child, like the ones I smile at in the street, ends up in this predicament.  Would I survive?

We ended up selecting a street stall and pointing to pictures of what we thought we wanted.  Turned out we ordered grilled chicken, a stew of beef, and a soup of vegetables and some undefinable other things ( plant or animal, we have no idea).  The owner was amused at our enthusiasm and gave us some free sardines, fried and marinated in a pickle like escabieche fish  It was all delicious.

Here are some photos of our first day:

Ginza from the Sakurada-bori Moat.  Tranquility in the middle of a bustling city.  The juxtaposition of old and new.

A pine artistically adorning the wall above the moat.

A family enjoying Hibiya-koen.

A view of the Imperial Palace grounds.

Statue of a fish.

Woodland in the city!

Joggers meet under a statue.

Don't ask what it is - just enjoy.

And when in doubt, have a beer - or two!

Going to bed in my hotel nightgown.

First impressions?  Amazingly calm and peaceful considering there are 20 million people here.  A wonderful city for a holiday.

Discovering Tokyo

What an amazing 24 hours we have had!

 We picked up our very generous house-sitter on Friday ( thanks Jenny!) and introduced her to the menagerie that she will be in charge of, poor thing.  Maisie responded by jumping up at her, while Bridie decided to prove that she is the hairiest short- haired cat in the world by shedding about a kilogram of fluff all over her.  We also introduced her to our favourite park, cafe and  local shops and gave her a run-down on the best way to see Brisbane and the best things to see.  I am biased towards South Bank and the art galleries, so she is apparently off in her favourite "lady frock" to be a lady who "does the galleries" once we are gone.

Saturday, we took the illogical route to Japan:  4pm we caught a   plane to Sydney, then at 10 ( not 9 as was intended), we headed for Japan by flying over Brisbane and Hamilton Island.  I was relieved that we had no large neighbour aggressively taking over our personal space, the seats were less uncomfortable than usual, the only screaming child quietened down quickly, the staff were pleasant, there was no aggressive lout on the flight, and we could get Asian meals.  I even managed to sleep a bit.  Nevertheless, in spite of the flight socks, I swelled up and developed "cankles".  So attractive!

Narita airport was a revelation!  It is so clean, orderly, polite and efficient, that I felt like I was in one of those Science Fiction films about a brave, new, world.  Kept waiting for the bad guys to arrive.  They didn't.  Everyone was helpful and polite - so different to the treatment I have had at Sydney airport.   We followed the advice of our friends and got our JR ticket for travelling around Japan at a discount stamped, left our bags with the courier who would transport them to our hotel, and sat down to people watch while we waited for the train to the city.  Bob was impressed at a man who carefully
looked for, found, and cleaned up the tiniest scrap of paper with his white gloved hands, and saluted each train driver and guard who sped past.  Pride in your job and your position, plus incredible cleanliness!  Amazing!  And the train arrived exactly when we were told it would .  Brilliant!

The trip to Tokyo was mesmerizing.  We passed groves of bamboo forests and triffid-like vines which appeard to be trying to choke the earth and trees faster than they could fight back.  There were tiny pockets of rice paddies in between and towns and villages nestling into the natural landscape.  The houses had echoes of the old style while using new materials.  Then, from about Chiba on, the landscape got more grey, urban and ugly - we were in a city.

We were a bit overwhelmed by Tokyo station, so we went for a walk to explore the area.  We were trying to get a tea in a cafe and we also tried to order what we thought was a Japanese special sandwich as a snack from the very blurred picture menu, and ended up with a $7 cup of coffee and a $2 serving of miso soup, a boiled egg, a ham, lettuce and mayonnaise sandwhich and a cup of green tea.  Serves us right for not knowing the language.  

Rather than face the subway, we decided to explore Ginza, which is very swanky, terribly European boulevard in feel.  We moved on to explore the splendid Imperial gardens, which provide an amazing contrast to the big global style of the  surrounding city.  We were impressed by the huge stones which have been meticulously used to construct the solid and imposing walls which protect the palace.  We admired the enormous koi carp in the moat,  kept off the plush, carpet -like grass  under the bonsaied trees, were enchanted by the white swans and herons.  Lots of pen and wash artists took advantage of the views to create little landscapes.  We crossed the moat and entered the public areas of the grounds through the most massively solid wood and iron doors I have ever seen.  The small collection of art works from the Imperial palace had some charming scrolls - mostly depicting animals and plants.  My favourite ones were a large,  amusing scroll of a group of monkeys by Kawabata  Gyokusho, and an amusing portrait of a sleeping boy by Nagasawa Rosetsu.  The gardens are composed of little
pictures : a "wild"  wood with flowers like harebells, a mixture of deciduous trees, and glades,  an iris garden with ponds and a stone lantern, various shelters, a lodge with carefully pruned bushes, but a rustic little bamboo gate.  The excitement came when I tried to remember how to use a squat toilet without getting wet, while wearing wide sailor pants.  So glad there were no cameras.

Getting tired, we headed for the avenue which circles the moat and almost regretted not bringing our running outfits.  Locals of all ages were pounding the tarmac using very odd, shuffling, jogging styles on the whole, but managing to efficiently pack in the kilometers nonetheless less.  One group gathered to joke under the statue of an old dignitary in their assorted, bright and stylish running outfits, making the old man look rather anachronistic and unimpressed.

Returning to Tokyo  station, we managed to buy the wrong ticket, get lost and confused, and get helped out by about four, non- English speaking locals who understood us as little as we understood.  One guard kindly refunded our money.  Another directed us to the subway, which we found after  getting lost in a flower show.

We finally made it to Tawaramachi station and found our hotel.  Our room is small ( not really enough room for luggage to be stored, bu well appointed, with an ensuite, which has been an adventure in itself.  I have finally experienced my first heated seat and apparently I can even get a showere from below while sitting on it.  The showere turned out to have warm water and the facility to have a freezing one from holes in the ceiling.  Joy!

In the afternnon , we wandered towards Asakusa

My trip down south  continued with a windy weekend in Bairnsdale, where my mother-in-law's Siamese cat  appeared to have vaguely thawed towards me.  Instead of acting as if I was intending to torture her by pulling out her nails with pliers, or roasting her in the microwave, or feeding her to a pit bull terrier,  and peeing on my pillow as she has in the past, she actually remained in the room with me and even rubbed against me a few times.  Perhaps it was the cold wind blowing outside which was responsible for her good mood, but I felt awfully flattered that she deigned to fall asleep in front of me!

We renewed our acquaintance with the beautiful Gippsland Lakes by having ice-creams at Paynesville and a very nice lunch at the Metung pub.  I have always thought that the Gippsland Lakes are underated and can hold their own with England's famed Lakes District, with their added bonus of juxtaposition with the ocean and their woderful wildlife.  I have great memories of swimming, fishing, canoeing, boating and sailing round the Lakes, living as a cook/ cleaner at Ocean Grange Homestead, watching koalas on Raymond Island, dolphins near Lakes Entrance, and kangaroos near Ocean Grange, and sunbathing on the 90 Mile Beach in my younger days. Wouldn't mind owning a put-put and wandering around the bays again.

Then,  it was back to Melbourne and a week where I tried to pack in as much as I could.

  I caught up with my second daughter and her family twice, and had lots of laughs with her hilarious son.  What an evil sense of humor he has!  

Luckily, he is very loving and charming too!

I  forced my poor son-in-law, Rob to model his hats

I also looked after my poor grand-daughter who had a bad cold which managed the impossible - made her lose her voice!  When she got better, she was kind enough to model a hat I had made for her some time ago as she read a magazine ( upside down)........


 

........and accompany me on a tour of 2 local parks



and a visit to the Surrey Hills Station to watch the trains.

 Also had a very nice Japanese dinner with my youngest son where we both sampled saki for the first time.  Verdict?  Quite nice!  Topped off with a visit to Trampoline for some ice- cream, we arrived home rather full.  

 Visited two good friends, Trish and Mark,  for a wonderful Vietnamese style chicken salad lunch, a tour of her veggie garden and a reacquaintance with her insane chickens which include two eccentric frizzle chooks, then a tour of Westgarth and Fairfield shops, where I had to buy a designer t-shirt for $5 ( love a bargain).  

Went shopping in Balwyn, which confirmed my belief that each shopping strip has its own, very individual, culture which means that Melbourne is like paradise for those of us who like buying gifts for others.

And,  finally  I had a great stir fry cooked for me by my friend Derica, who filled me with belly laughs with her memories of life in Jamaica.

It was a top of 14 on the day I left Melbourne, and I arrived back at 9pm to a 22 degrees  Brisbane.  The next day was 30 degrees, and despite a wonderful Argentinean barbeque in the charming New Farm Park and some scintillating company, I expired with the heat and had to have a siesta under the coffee trees beside the playground, much to the amusement of my companions.  And no, it wasn't due to the quarter stubby of beer I drank.

Had a busy week, but managed to make it to my printing class where I picked up the prints I made last week:

Some sushi prints on some bags and aprons

 


 

And some vegetable screen prints

 

I also discovered the joys of sun printing, in spite of the incredibly gusty day.  

 

I must try this again!  It is just like magic, the way the colour fades under the cut-outs, leaves, and other objects placed on the painted fabric.