More Tokyo!

We spent the day with Håkan, Rica and the children

first visiting Meiji-shrine in the Yoyogi Park (by Harajuku station),

Tokyo's most important shrine. There were lots and lots of people there waiting to enter to throw coins for happiness. We never got that far because of the wide line up (I guess we won´t be happy this year). Instead we watched 2 wedding couples

in traditional outfits walking through the crowd which was an experience in itself. We also tried to spot some people on the outskirts of the Yoyogi Park that usually perform dressed up in 1950s outfits. We saw quite a few guys looking like Elvis Presley but neither of them were performing.

After Yoyogi Park we took the train to Shinjuku where we had lunch at an Americanized diner (I had pancakes and Ceasar salad) before heading to the Metropolitan Government building that's divided into 2 towers.

We went up to the 45th floor in both towers (it took 55 seconds with the elevator) enjoying the sunny view. The sun made it difficult to see Mt Fuji though. But we had a good view of the hotel where parts of the movie Lost in Translation took place as well as two used tennis courts on top of a lower building. We also got a nice view of my favourite building in Tokyo, the Mode educational institution cocoon tower.
Rica and the kids went home while Håkan, Rickard and I stopped at Shibuya to watch the intersection which is often pictured when Tokyo is mentioned. It was pretty crazy. We had coffee at Starbucks again only to enjoy the view of the intersection (we got great seats on the second floor).

I also bought 3 more mugs at Starbucks (I'm a collector of Starbucks mugs). And then I bought 3 more at another Starbucks on the way home. Usually I only buy one when I visit other countries ... but this time I'm going wild trying to fill up the empty space in my suitcase since we brought so much stuff here.

We spent the evening at home trying to book hotels for the 7 days adventure Rickard and I are leaving for on Wednesday. We only managed to book a hotel in Hiroshima for 2 nights, a hotel my sister Helena and her family stayed at when they were here.

Tomorrow will probably be spent in Ginza and we will hopefully manage to visit the Imperial Palace.

Good night and sleep tight...!