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nostromo in hello-kitty land, day 13

last day for me in the land of hello kitty, shrines, temples
and nekomimi-maids. i wish i would have booked three weeks. but
my feet hurt, i have blisters on my toes and heels, my left
lower leg hurts with every step i do, my shoes are pretty worn
out, and i'm just very tired, and every muscle of my body is
tensed up. so two weeks of sightseeing are a bit exhausting.
nonetheless it was worth it.
i forgot to add some comments on yesterday's bLog-entry. what i
had for lunch (day 12, picture [99]) yesterday was eight pieces
of sushi, and four pieces of maki for 530YEN (that's about
3.15EUR), some "hello kitty" cookies for 200YEN (that's about
1.20EUR), chocolate for 89YEN (52cent), and a can of "kirin chu-
hi" for 201YEN, which is a mix of "syochu" (alcohol destilled
from either sweet potatoe, or rice) and lemon. 
today's program startet with a visit to the "tsukiji wholesale
market"[001-034] where one can find vegetables and all kind of
sea-food and fish. in fact this is the biggest fishmarket in the
world (at least my guide says so). in the hall where they sell
fish there were several animals i had never seen before in my
life. a walk just from one side to the other side of the hall
took me about 15mins. so the area is really really huge. inside
they chop off heads and tails, disembowel fish, and cut it into
handy pieces, which they sell afterwards. unfortunately i only
like sweet things in the morning, so i did not buy or eat any
fresh fish. the area is pretty busy and quite dangerous for
incautious tourists, since there are driving all kind of
vehicles to tranpsort the fish from one place to the other. so
there was a constant movement throughout the entire inside and
outside of the halls.
i went on and was searching for the nearest underground station,
when i accidently found the "hama-rikyu"[036-083] gardens.
notice the ticket-number as shown in picture[037]. "hama-rikyu"
was a very beautiful garden with loads of ponds, bridges, trees
and a tea house[061-073] where they perform a tea ceremony. i
went inside the house and got cold tea (with foam on top of it)
and a little cake. additionally i was handed out a paper that
describes in detail all the steps to be taken to perform the
ceremony correctly (in english!). i really tried my best, and i
hope i did perform not that bad. the tea was excellent, and has
a unique taste - definitely recommendable. 
on my way to my next stop i passed by several
skyscrapers[086-098], and i was fascinated by the reflections
and geometries, so there are a few experimental pictures in-
cluded.
again another attraction i found by accident kept me from
getting on the underground train. this time there was some
activity in the "shidome sio site"[099-119]. i especially liked
the "monkey-boy"[105-106] since he really enjoyed what he was
doing. in a toy shop i found another "studio ghibli"[112-118]
corner as almost every toy store has. japanese love "hello
kitty" and "studio ghibli" stuff. and so do i, so i went in and
took some pictures.  i bought some white chocolate again. this
time a "dars" bar for 98YEN (about 60cent).
and then, finally, i made it to my planned destination, namely
the "tokyo tower"[125-155], a copy of the eiffel tower, but 33
meters taller. i enjoyed the view over tokyo and another "hello
kitty" souvenir shop inside the tower.
then i met with Kaze_ again, since i asked him if he wants to
join me to the shrine i did not find yesterday. he said yes, so
we went there together. so i finally made it to the "imado jinja
shrine"[166-179], dedicated to the "maneki neko", better known
as the "lucky cat", "welcoming cat", or "fortune cat". Kaze_ and
i loe cats, and there were many cats (though not living ones).
i bought two cat-emas[178] wrote my wishes on one of them, and
hung it next to the other emas. the other one i took with me as
a souvenir. i'm glad i went there, and this time to the right
shrine.
afterwards Kaze_ and i had some japanese sweets, called "anmit-
su"[182], that's fruits, small cubes of agar jelly, "azuki
beans" (the black things), "azuki beans paste" (the brown
thing), and black syrup. and came by the three meters high
lantern again, as seen in picture[042] on day 08. this time i
took a photo from the bottom of the lantern[181]. then we went
to a restaurant where i got sake[183] and "shogayaki"[181]
("shoga" is ginger, "yaki" is to fry) with pork. as usual very
delicious! i really will miss the variety of japanese food.
later we went to a bookstore where i bought some cat manga.

random fact about tokyo: during my tokyo trip there was not a
single accident on the street. i think this is due to the fact
that the people are simply polite and friendly in every aspect
of their live, and this also includes road traffic. i already
mentioned in an earlier facts-section that pedestriants and
cyclists share the pavement but there was not a single scolding.

thanks for reading my bLog. tokyo, i will miss you...

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