Day 8 - Tokyo Imperial GardensWell today sucked, was supposed to meet my gf but when I emailed her this morning she canceled so I couldn't meet her today. Not letting that get me down, I decided to go check out the Imperial Gardens in Tokyo.
For breakfast this morning I decided to go to Mister Donut, again. Instead of following the main road, I decided to go via the shrine through the back streets to Ameyoko, where the shop is. On the way there I passed some shrine, lots of food stores and the SNK Playmore offices before arriving at Mister Donut.
I had a two donuts today, was really hungry, one I had before and the other was new, it was similar to the donut balls I had before but this one had chocolate on top and cream in the middle. Wasn't that nice, i've tried all 3 and the best one is the Coffee / Custard followed by the Strawberry one.
After Mister Donut I headed for the Imperial Gardens which is closest to Tokyo Station. I was actually following a leaflet that recommends a walking route, first point was from the West Exit of Tokyo station. From Ueno, it took just 9 minutes on the JR Yamanote line.
Yeah, that's a stray baby at Tokyo Station!!
After looking around the station area I headed towards the gardens, the route suggested I go down the main road but it wasn't the best route, on closer inspection, the route was rubbish so I binned the map. First stop for me was the fountains, a small cafe area with some really nice fountains, I think the ones in the pictures are hourly.
From the fountains, it was a short walk to the enterance to the gardens, it's free entry but you get given a ticket you have to return when you leave. When I got there, the weather got colder and a bit more cloudy, kinda crap weather but could have been a lot worse!
The park took quite a while to walk around, maybe about an hour.
Lots of photos of the park in the next spoiler.
After the park I decided to walk around and go back to Tokyo station, I actually got lost and ended up at another station. From that station, I went to Shibuya.
I only stayed in Shibuya for a while, I forgot to bring my touristy map so wasn't sure where to go and didn't want to wander. I went to the Starbucks above the main crossing but it was really busy so couldn't get a good seat, had a Gingerbread Mocha, not that great.
I came back to the hotel at 8pm to rest for a bit before going out for dinner. For dinner, I went local to Ameyoko, sadly, I got confused with the time and got there about 10pm when most of the shops were closing, I decided to go to the 24 hour place near my hotel. I had a hamburg curry, I love this dish!
After that I was in the mood for desert, I always pass Mc Donnalds and they have this awesome cinnamon desert that I've been meaning to try. There's a Mc Donnalds a minute from my hotel so I went and got one. Amazing, such an awesome desert, it's a hot, soft, cinnamon swirl type thing.
Not sure what's going on tomorrow, my girlfriend said she'll defintly meet me but hasn't been in contact or replied yet, I guess she's busy with her report or whatever it was she said she's doing today.
Going around Tokyo on my own was really depressing today, it would have been nice to have some company walking around the park or even someone to talk to but nothing. Oh well, tomorrow should be better but not sure what the plan is. My girlfriend said she'll meet me but hasn't been in contact or replied to an email I sent this evening. I guess she's busy with her report or whatever it was she said she's doing today.