Tokyo Towering Inferno
You guys...
Yesterday was hot. I mean--it was only 80 degrees. But we walked a lot. In the sun. In the blazing sun. And also in the humidity.
We only had one thing to do yesterday -- see the Tokyo Tower -- and we weren't due there until 6:30PM.
We started off at around 4AM, thanks to super-fun jet lag (and a bedtime of around 8:30PM the night before...) and hopped a train to Roppongi, which is best known for its night-life.
So obviously when we arrived at 10AM, there wasn't much going on.
We did find a super-cute pie eatery/cuterie called Pie Holic...
...though I'm not sure why they didn't call it "RopPIEngi."
...ahem...
(Obviously the name "Tart Hall" was already taken.)
In any event, Keith and I had some delicious pie...
After a quick bite of lunch, we wandered toward the gay district, which also doesn't seem to have anything to offer the day-walkers. We vow to return later.
Then we went to a district called the Golden Gai...
...which is basically a collection of super teeny, tiny bars--some of them fitting as few as five people inside.
Some are themed...
...some are for locals only...
...and some are not creepy at all...
They bought us a round, and were super awesome.
The female patron also provided us with snacks, knowing we'd need sustenance for our arduous journey.
She's kind of the best.
Also one of the best: Keith.
A small digression: One of my favorite memories of Keith is when we went to the Eiffel Tower in 2011's travelblog adventure. I'm terrified of heights, as you can see from the photos in his post..
Anyway, while Keith and Bookie bravely went up to the super-top of the Eiffel Tower, I was stuck on a lower level, physically unable to make the rest of the trek up. I was sort of embarrassed and annoyed that I couldn't psyche myself into it...but the view was gorgeous from where I was, and I certainly wasn't going to stop them from continuing upward.
But a little while later, Keith came back down to where I was to watch the sun set over Paris with me. It may seem like a small gesture, but it meant a lot to me, and it's something I've never forgotten.
So, for this trip, I thought it'd be fun to take Keith to Japan's answer to the Eiffel Tower...
They recently opened a sky-deck, and I was determined to get us up there for sunset and not have a panic attack.
We went up an elevator to a little more than the midway point of the tower, where we were taken into a room painted like a library.
In there, we were treated to a presentation entirely in Japanese, where Harry-Potter-esque portraits began interacting with our host in some sort of skit.
The others in our small group enjoyed it, but we had no idea what was going on.
From there, we stepped into a smaller elevator...
...where we were brought to the recently-opened sky deck.
And, in a twist I didn't see coming: Keith is also afraid of heights. Had I paid attention to this line from his 2011 post, I would have known: "Normally I am afraid of heights, but Jeff was cracking me up too much to worry about it..."
So, we got up to the sky deck and discovered, to both our horrors, that it was essentially a house of mirrors, and no matter where we looked...
...we were treated to a view of the expansive city....
...which was both breathtaking and terrifying.
We managed to keep composed for a few minutes before we started making our way down.
All told, we walked nearly nine miles yesterday...
Yesterday was hot. I mean--it was only 80 degrees. But we walked a lot. In the sun. In the blazing sun. And also in the humidity.
We only had one thing to do yesterday -- see the Tokyo Tower -- and we weren't due there until 6:30PM.
We started off at around 4AM, thanks to super-fun jet lag (and a bedtime of around 8:30PM the night before...) and hopped a train to Roppongi, which is best known for its night-life.
So obviously when we arrived at 10AM, there wasn't much going on.
We did find a super-cute pie eatery/cuterie called Pie Holic...
...though I'm not sure why they didn't call it "RopPIEngi."
...ahem...
(Obviously the name "Tart Hall" was already taken.)
In any event, Keith and I had some delicious pie...
Since we had plenty of time, and nowhere specific to be, we wandered around. Keith found an article that told us where the "touristy" part of Roppongi was...except it lied and we ended up walking walked to the next town over via a lovely park...
...in the aforementioned blazing hot sun.
After a quick bite of lunch, we wandered toward the gay district, which also doesn't seem to have anything to offer the day-walkers. We vow to return later.
Then we went to a district called the Golden Gai...
...which is basically a collection of super teeny, tiny bars--some of them fitting as few as five people inside.
Some are themed...
...some are for locals only...
...and some are not creepy at all...
Keith and I ended up drinking with Mr. Yama after he waved us in.
There were a few other patrons in this tiny bar, which seats approximately zero.
Also, Yama had the most amazing toilet I've ever seen. LOOK AT WHAT IT CAN DO:
Step 1: Flush
Step 2: Wash Hands with Water it Fills Tank With
Step 3: WIN AT LIFE.
Step 4: Go to Tokyo Tower after Yama makes you do shots of Yager.
She's kind of the best.
Also one of the best: Keith.
A small digression: One of my favorite memories of Keith is when we went to the Eiffel Tower in 2011's travelblog adventure. I'm terrified of heights, as you can see from the photos in his post..
Anyway, while Keith and Bookie bravely went up to the super-top of the Eiffel Tower, I was stuck on a lower level, physically unable to make the rest of the trek up. I was sort of embarrassed and annoyed that I couldn't psyche myself into it...but the view was gorgeous from where I was, and I certainly wasn't going to stop them from continuing upward.
But a little while later, Keith came back down to where I was to watch the sun set over Paris with me. It may seem like a small gesture, but it meant a lot to me, and it's something I've never forgotten.
So, for this trip, I thought it'd be fun to take Keith to Japan's answer to the Eiffel Tower...
...the Tokyo Tower!
They recently opened a sky-deck, and I was determined to get us up there for sunset and not have a panic attack.
We went up an elevator to a little more than the midway point of the tower, where we were taken into a room painted like a library.
In there, we were treated to a presentation entirely in Japanese, where Harry-Potter-esque portraits began interacting with our host in some sort of skit.
The others in our small group enjoyed it, but we had no idea what was going on.
From there, we stepped into a smaller elevator...
...where we were brought to the recently-opened sky deck.
And, in a twist I didn't see coming: Keith is also afraid of heights. Had I paid attention to this line from his 2011 post, I would have known: "Normally I am afraid of heights, but Jeff was cracking me up too much to worry about it..."
So, we got up to the sky deck and discovered, to both our horrors, that it was essentially a house of mirrors, and no matter where we looked...
...we were treated to a view of the expansive city....
...which was both breathtaking and terrifying.
We managed to keep composed for a few minutes before we started making our way down.
All told, we walked nearly nine miles yesterday...
...and we certainly weren't perishing by the end of the day. Why would you even think that?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0QUQ-1-Ub0 My beloved bestie Alan Merrill has a good song for this one
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