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The sunny warm weather held up for another day today, so we went to Ueno for the afternoon.I found a tourist brochure we were given when we went to Nikko that outlines all the most popular attractions in Tokyo, so we are trying to get through a page or two a week.

I had been expecting a prettier park, so Ueno was a little disappointing. The sun was so warm I quickly got a little disoriented and grumpy, and after we visited Toshogu Shrine, did a quick walk around the park and the lake full of lily pads, we went to find some lunch.

I must remember to take my umbrella out to protect myself from the sun and the grumpiness that comes from being in it…

We will go back again on a greyer day to visit some of the many museums scattered about the park, then I should be left with a happier impression of the place.

Its another beautiful day for my weekend, such good luck.We went to Arisugawanomiya Memorial Park this afternoon, and walked back through the Azabu Juban shopping area and Roppongi Midtown.

I couldn’t resist Soup-Stock Tokyo for lunch again.

Patrick saw a snake in Yoyogi Park this morning. A very large, black snake.

I am not sure if snakes are common around here, but I never expected to see one in central Tokyo.

We decided to have our lunch in Meiji Park instead, just in case…

I am loving our picnic lunches. The convenience stores here have the most amazing selection of fresh, packaged meals to choose from. It will be months before we run out of picnic menu options. This is one thing I will definitely miss when we leave, the simple, healthy and cheap meals from the convenience stores.

Today I had a silken tofu lunch box, which came with a little packet of silken tofu and numerous seasonings to mix in. It had tiny, tiny tempura fish, dried seaweed, pickled something-or-other and various other yummy things. If only we had this sort of snack option at every 7eleven in Melbourne, I think I would have eaten a much healthier quantity of Kettle chips and chocolate in the past.

Just as we finished our rather substantial lunch, an announcement rang out over the loudspeakers to remind us not to bring food or drink into the park, so as to keep it beautiful and free of rubbish. Oops.

A little embarrassing, but no so bad, as we weren’t aware beforehand, and are always careful to clean up after ourselves and make sure no litter is left behind.

Well… usually we are….

Not even a minute after the announcement, an ugly great crow appeared out of nowhere and flew off with our rubbish bag. Patrick leapt up and chased him off down the hill, much to the delight of all the other people sitting about in the park.

Unfortunately the crow casually flapped off across the lake and disappeared into the trees.

Now we understand the no-food-in-the-park rule.

After we had made a swift and quiet exit from Meiji Park, we headed off to Saitama to watch the Urawa Red Diamonds play Sydney FC. Patrick bought us Urawa fan tickets this time, so we were right in the middle of all the action.

I was enormously impressed by the singing ability of the Urawa fans; I don’t remember any Victory fans every singing so tunefully. A You Tube search of “Urawa Reds Supporters” brings up a few videos of these fans at work, they are pretty remarkable. I think Sydney FC did an excellent job of playing to that crowd.

La la la la Urawa red-suu…

We clapped along to the theme song of “The Great Escape” and to “We are Sailing”, and lots of other things I couldn’t quite recognise at the time.

I’ll have to learn the words for next time.

The weather has been perfect since my weekend finished. The sky has been blue and the clouds small and fluffy. Hopefully it holds out until Wednesday.

We walked back through Yoyogi Park on the way home yesterday evening, and were early enough to see a few performers left. I took some photos of one particularly bright group.

This afternoon, Patrick took me to the Tama River for a picnic lunch. The plan was for me to be able to get a good view of Mt Fuji, but as usual, it quickly wrapped itself in clouds. I don’t know why I have such awful luck with that mountain.

I had imagined the river to be nicer than it was. We took the subway to Futako-Tamagawa, which is where Patrick usually runs. There may be much nicer areas, so my judgement is probably not accurate for the whole length of the river. The section we went to seemed popular, with lots of people sitting along the banks, but it was far from pretty.

There was grass though, and the sun shone, so it was not a complete waste of a trip.

I uploaded some photos recently and forgot to mention them. They are from Wolfgang Puck, which I haven’t mentioned before as it is our slightly embarrasing indulgence for the week. They make a huge beef burger that Patrick loves and the best chips in town. They are also open late so we don’t get herded out before we are ready.

Michael isn’t such a fan. It is known to him as the “vomit cafe” because he felt rather sick the last time we took him there.

The weather has been a bit rainy and dull yesterday and today.  So annoying when my weekends are like this.

Michael and I went for another Omotesando $5 coffee last night while Patrick was at football, then we all went to Pizza Express (or is it Pasta Express?…) for dinner.  The name makes it sound awful, but it is actually a really nice place.  The service is a bit odd, but the salads and pizzas are great.  Michael’s salmon always seems to have more bones in it than meat, but it looks worth the effort.

We spent the afternoon in Shinjuku Gyoen again.  Although the weather was crap, it was good to spend at least a little time in among the trees.

There must have been a special children’s event on in the park, as there were MILLIONS of little kindergarten children running about.  All very loud, but very cute.