March 31 - Tokyo

 I forgot to add this photo of the ordering tablet at Denny's.  You can see all of the menus stacked behind it along with the instructions in English which we didn't find until we'd already figured it out.  And the little button thing on the right is used when you want to call someone for service.

Today is Easter Sunday, but that isn't celebrated here since the religions are Shinto or Buddhism. We had breakfast again in the buffet (this is included in the tour package) and then headed off on our tour.  Our guide, Umi, was a cute little thing and better than the gentleman yesterday.  Our first stop was at the Tokyo National Museum, which has over 100,000 items on display.  We had 30 minutes there.  Obviously, we didn't see much.  We headed to the garden in back and then made a quick stop at the museum shop for a glass nail file, which makes for a nice souvenir - pretty, practical, lightweight and inexpensive.

Umi said these steps are often used in movies and TV shows.

We were on the same bus as Jan and Tom.

There are a few cherry blossoms blooming now, but peak is still a ways away.

Along our drive, we passed some interesting buildings.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building.  This has a light show on the outside every evening.

The Tokyo Skytree - a broadcasting and observation tower. At 634 meters it is the tallest tower in the world.

One of several Denny's we saw - not the one we ate at last night.

Our next stop was the Asakusa-Sensoji Temple.  Michael and I went here in 2017 and it was not nearly as crowded back then, but we did see young women in kimonos then also.

One of the entry gates

It was very crowded today.

Umi said that 70% of those in kimonos are tourists.

The weather has been great - in the low 70's with a slight breeze.  It seemed all of Tokyo was out enjoying the warm weather.

This is where you wash your hands before entering the temple

I tried to get the baby cherry blossom and the temple in the same photo

Then it was back to the hotel.

In the back of the bus in seats with extra legroom.

Lunch was a quick sandwich and chips picked up at the 7-11 next door.  Denny's, 7-11 - boy, we really live high on the hog here in Tokyo! We have resisted the McDonald's and Wendy's though, so that's something. The little noodle cafes are always so busy and a little intimidating to figure out how to order and pay.  I figure we'll do better in smaller cities during our cruise.

Michael went to the fitness center for a while and I read until it was time for dinner.  We went with Jan & Tom, Phil & Carol Juckeland (friends we met on the 2020 World Cruise who live near to our former home in Eagle Crest), and their friends Jerry & Susan Freschi from Klamath Falls, OR.  Phil asked the concierge to make reservations at a nearby casual Japanese restaurant.  It was really good and surprisingly reasonable.  I had a sort of combo plate and, except for the miso soup and the two pieces of tempura, I have no idea what it all was, but it was very tasty.  Michael had a beef plate and together with 2 beers, the total was $40.  

Tomorrow we have one more morning tour, then we will be taken to the ship.

March 30 - Tokyo

 We had a difficult night sleepwise and finally gave up around 5:00 am.  We met Jan and Tom for breakfast at 8:00 and the buffet was packed and chaotic.  We may have to go earlier tomorrow.  We were scheduled to meet at 9:40 for our tour departure.  It took nearly 10 minutes to get the elevator down to the meeting room.  We ended up catching one going up in order to get down.  We learned there are nearly 400 Regent cruisers here now which explains a lot.  We left for our bus and departed the hotel around 10:15.  Our guide was kind, but not the best and sometimes a little hard to understand.  We went over to Odaiba where we saw the Tokyo Statue of Liberty (there are 4 here in Japan) and enjoyed the views over the river back to downtown Tokyo.  We realized that we were very near the hotel where we stayed in 2017 when we spent a few days here after a Princess cruise.  I believe I have this same photo from that trip.

Along the way, we passed a LegoLand with this huge giraffe out front, made of Legos of course.

And this notice on a car caught my attention.

If you blow it up, you'll see it says "Rabbits on Board".  Different.

Next stop on the tour was to the Ginza shopping district.  We're not really into all the luxury brands, so we sort of just walked around.  Michael's suitcase had 2 of its 4 wheels torn off during the trip over, so we looked for a replacement.  The only one we saw that might have worked was $695.  Seemed like a lot to spend to have its wheels torn off after a few trips, so we passed.  The Ginza reminded me of Rodeo Drive, another place I don't ever need to see again.  As I walked around in my Costco shirt and pants, it occurred to me that I'm definitely not their target customer.

We were back at the hotel by 1:30 and got some advice from the front desk on where we might find a suitcase that didn't cost quite so much.  So we took the hotel shuttle to the nearby Metro/bus station and went to an indoor mall where we found just the thing we needed.  Mission accomplished, we headed back to the hotel for a little rest, as we're still a bit jetlagged.  We didn't actually sleep though so as not to disrupt another night.

And on our way back to the shuttle, we passed this.  We have Shake Shack on the East Coast, but I don't know if this is the same chain.

For dinner, we went with Tom and Jan to Denny's, of all places!  It's about a 5-minute walk from the hotel and we had a fun experience at a Denny's the last time we were here.  This time it was a different experience, but fun again.  We had to wait about 15 minutes to be seated and then we were each given 3 menus with about 5 more at the table.  The English language was in tiny print hidden within the Japanese characters, but there were pictures of everything.  You order from a tablet device at the table and that took us a while to figure out, of course.  We ordered for each of us individually which meant that Jan's food starting coming out before we had finished with Michael's.  But we did get better as we went along.  Jan and Tom had "hamburger steaks" that looked a little gray, so they weren't sure what type of meat it was.  I had raw tuna and a noodle soup which was pretty good and Michael had chicken jambalaya - a rather eclectic assortment.  Anyway, we figure it's good for our old brains to have to figure these things out.  

After that, it was back to the hotel and another early night.

March 28-29 Come Fly with Me

 We spent the night of March 27 at the Fairfield Dulles Airport since we had to be at the airport so early for our 6:30 am flight.  Our unofficial Regency Uber driver, Jerry, brought us there and we had a forgettable dinner at Cracker Barrel, the only place within walking distance.  We were downstairs for the 4:30 am shuttle and checked into our flight be 5:15.  For some reason we didn’t have our TSA-Pre Check status, but at that hour the security line was pretty quick anyway.   The first-class flight to Dallas on American was OK, but the business-class flight on Japan Airlines to Tokyo (Haneda) was really nice.  Wonderful food and service and the seats fold flat so we were able to get some real sleep during the 14-hour flight.  Getting through immigration took forever as many planes had just landed.  We were met at the airport by a Regent Rep and after a little confusion, about 50 of us Regent cruisers were shown to our bus.  The driver said it would be a 30-40 minute trip.  Hah!  Friday rush hour (we landed at 3:30 pm and got on the bus just before 5:00 pm) in Tokyo is a nightmare.  We crawled along for nearly 90 minutes before getting to the Tokyo Hilton.  Another line to get our keys for room 2621 and then upstairs for a quick shower.  We were hungry, but exhausted, so we decided to just go down to the restaurant we saw off the lobby.  They had a full buffet option or a bar with a limited menu and we elected the bar.  Michael had a small tapas plate and I had fish and chips, which were quite good.  Then back to the room and to bed by 8 pm.  

Preparing For Our Cruise

RSSC Explorer

We're off on another Regent Cruise.  We will fly from Dulles (Washington, DC) on Thursday, March 28 through Dallas to Tokyo (Haneda Airport), arriving on Friday, March 29.  We have a 3-day "Vibrant Tokyo" package before we board the RSSC Explorer on April 1.  The 3-day package was a promotion for this particular cruise, along with a 2-category cabin upgrade, which put us into a Penthouse cabin for the first time.  We'll have a butler for this trip and I guess I'll have to figure out what to request of him.  I know they will do almost anything, but I'm still unsure how to best make use of his time. 

The Explorer carries up to 746 passengers and has 548 crew.  

This is a poor route map, but we start in Tokyo, Japan, and end 30 days later in Vancouver, BC.

(Sorry about this extra box above, can't figure out how to get rid of it!)

As always, if you wish to follow this blog, the best option is to bookmark this page and come back whenever you wish to see what new posts have been added.  I plan to post each day.  And if you click on the photos, they should enlarge.