July 14. 2014 All Roads Lead to Tokyo

All roads lead to Tokyo, or around or through , well for me anyway! I've spent a couple afternoons in the last week or so doing some exploring. The temperatures have been hot and HUMID but sometimes these rambling legs of mine just need to get out and walk and walk and walk...
When we lived in Colorado I'd grab the kids and we'd head to the mountains and hike. I'd put the little ones (or as I called them hors d'oeuvres )in the middle, with my oldest with a big stick at one end of the line and myself at the other and off we'd go! At least I'm not worried about mountain lions or bears here!
One afternoon I headed to Shinjuku, I've been there before but I wanted to stop at my favorite bookstore first and then go exploring. This bookstore takes up at least 6 floors and one whole floor is dedicated to foreign language books so I can usually find something that catches my interest! I passed by the famous DoCoMo clock tower!
                                                                               

 and the Times Square shopping center...the bookstore is to the left of this building.

 After the bookstore, I started wandering. I liked this little pathway, it smelled good in the heat. I think the boards were cedar maybe.

    I walked and walked and walked. I was looking for the Shinjuku Gyoen park entrance...but I kept just finding the outside wall and couldn't get inside! After ALOT of walking I found the entrance, but the park had closed already so I'll have to go back to visit on another day. I saw a different train station in the distance which I hoped would save me having to walk all the way back to the Shinjuku station. When I arrived at the station I saw the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium and some kids playing soccer.

I was fortunate in that the train station I found was a line that went directly to my home train stop!

Day 2

So this day, I hopped the train and headed to Tachikawa. I got out and started walking in a direction I hadn't gone before and I found an Ikea...can you believe I've never been to one before?! I went inside and found they had a hot dog and soda for Y150!  I took a break and ate a pretty good hotdog! I wasn't very impressed with the store though so I left shortly after that. You can see the monorail overhead and the Ikea store in the distance too.

When I left the IKEA, I saw this cool window washer hanging on the side of the building! I kept wondering what it'd be like to be hanging there in an earthquake!

I've wanted to ride the monorail forever so I hopped on this one and went winding through the top of the city to who knows where!

I rode it to the end of the line, passing through the city and headed out to parts more residential.

                                        
                                               note the bicycle parking lot down below

                                      
                                            if there is an open space there is a garden

                                                       
                                                 headed towards the foot hills

Finally, we arrive at the end of the line and I get out to explore Tama Center.

Turns out I found Hello Kitty Town!

                                                
                                    Complete with Disney style theme park!

Tama center also has a very pretty walk way and Central Park!

                                                   
                                                        This is called the Parthenon.

             
                  View from the top of the Parthenon.

                                                                                  
                                               
                                                                Pretty walk way.

Central Park

                        
                               Peaceful Paths

                               

















                                           Bamboo, one of my all time favorite plants!

                                                              
                                                                        little path

                                                              
                                                       behind the Parthenon

                                                         
                                                            The big grassy area.

                                                            
                                                                        More stairs, my legs were getting tired!

                                          

Now I was tired! I decided to head home and thought instead of the monorail which was quite nice but slow, that I'd try the train station instead for a faster more direct route home! After studying the train chart for a bit I was able to figure out a route home with only one train transfer! It left me in Kichijoji and I picked up some Bratwursts from the import store and headed home for a quick and tasty bratwurst with sauerkraut, cheese and mustard!  Standard Wisconsin food!!! Yummy!