Day 2 - Asakusa & Ueno

We started off the day with breakfast at the hotel. Most of the food were dry stuff such as Danish pastries, bread, cereal etc, so I stuck to the pastries throughout my stay there. There weren't even fruits or omelette. I guess fruits in Japan must cost a lot. I missed breakfast on two occasions as I got pretty sick of seeing the same food laid out on the tables every day. It did fill us up a little, such that we usually had lunch only when we were hungry, that is around 2-3pm. Breakfast was served from 6.30 - 9.30am on weekdays and a half hour extra on the weekends.

On the second day, we set off on the Ginza line with the intention of visiting Ueno for the wholesale street markets at Ameyayokocho, but while on the train, I saw that Asakusa was a few stops after Ueno, and that was one of my planned destinations. We decided to change plans and start off at Asakusa before heading down to Ueno and Shinjuku.

Asakusa is where the oldest temple in Tokyo stands. Its name is Sensoji. Read about it here if you are keen to learn more. I took many pictures here so will let the photos do the talking.

The girl spotted a toy dispenser machine.

As we made our way towards the temple, stalls and shops lined the walkway, which provided a lot of distraction for tourists and pilgrims alike. It was an interesting sight. We spied a pancake shop and couldn't walk past without first getting each one of us a pancake. They were delicious.

This man was baking fresh rice crackers, like the ones you see two photos down.

These fruits fell off those yellow trees. I'm not sure if those were gingko trees. They turn a lovely shade of yellow and orange in Autumn. We saw a couple of people picking those fruits up, but when squashed, they gave out a funny yucky smell. They are really soft and fragile and squash easily when pressed. I had forgotten that they were in my coat pocket and accidentally squashed one of them. Yikes.

Time to stop for a drink before we headed off to Ueno. Oh the many choices...

A friend recommended that we visit Ameyayokocho while in Tokyo. It is in Ueno. The streets are full of shops selling items at discounted, wholesale prices, and there is something for everyone. From food to shoes, to a wholesale shop selling Japanese snacks, gift packs, chocolates etc. Great for gifts. We filled up our shopping bags easily here. Although it is very close to Kappabashi, we never made it there, as hubby was bothered about being in this shopping area. He didn't enjoy it one bit, so we couldn't stay for long. Street markets just aren't his kind of thing.

These were some of the goodies we bought.

Takashimaya Times Square was where we were headed right after Ueno. It took us a while to find it, as it was only our second day there and we were unfamiliar at all with our surroundings. I'm glad I found Tokyu Hands there. From Taka, I got these seaweed.

We parked hubby at some waiting area and girl and I went over to Kinokuniya to look for bento books. I was very lucky to find a few titles by Kaerenmama and Akinoichigo. I even found the latest Kaerenmama and Asami jointly published book. Woohoo. Happiness.

It was a great shopping day. :)