Short and sweet today. Busy packing. Bags have to be out by 8 pm tonight for transport to the hotel in Tokyo tomorrow while we are on another tour. It was mostly cloudy but no rain while we were out and about.
At 12:15 today we had a two hour bus tour of Tokyo with only one stop at the Imperial Palace, home of the Emperor of Japan. Here’s a photo recap.
Pictures from the Bus
Walking to the Imperial Palace
That’s a statue of Statue of Kusunoki Masashige near the palace. Great trees.
At the Imperial Palace
The Emperor lives here at the Imperial Palace.. You cannot go into his 250+ acre domain. He doesn’t want visiting tourists wandering around. His loss. At a nearby kiosk we had ¥1,300 ($10) gold ice creams. – green tea flavor with real gold leaf. Apparently gold is good for you.
Back on the Bus Going Through the Ginza Area
I remember the Ginza area from when my mother and I visited Tokyo in 1973. No one here or anywhere in Tokyo seems to remember me from that trip.
And back to the ship. The first two pictures are from the Cruise Terminal, a huge facility. We were the only ship in port. Then quick drinks and dinner, get the bags out, and final nightcaps. The group pictures (including a selfie) were taken by Alden, the Explorer bartender. And finally some night shots from the bow (taken by Elaine).
Ahoy, welcome to land again! Lovely trip, great pix!
Love the bonsai trees on your walk to the palace. Ooh, gold ice cream.
Tokyo looks to be a very large modern city, but you’d think someone would have remembered you – – after all it’s only been 51 years!!
It looks like you’re all having a grand farewell get together. I know you guys are heading to Hawaii after a couple of nights at a Tokyo hotel. What about John and Donna? And the other cruise passengers? Does the ship do a return to Vancouver or does everyone do their own thing after Tokyo?
Beautiful shots of Tokyo at night from the bow, Elaine.
John and Donna are by now home in Atlanta. A bunch of people are doing the two day Tokyo extention and then either going home or traveling independently around Japan. And a good number of passengers are continuing onto phase two of Orion’s 92-day Grand Pacific cruise. Next leg ends in Hong Kong before continuing on to Bangkok and eventually Australia and New Zealand.
Thanks for the trip! Interesting places up there indeed.
How very rude of the emperor Joe, to not come out and say hello. Well, you did the next best thing, get green tea ice cream, dusted with gold! I remember Tokyo was where we had wagu beef before it was all over. Melted in our mouths! Enjoy your stay. Liked your bar pics for your last “together” photos.