I just love not having to wake up early. We had nothing planned for today, so we decided not to set the alarm clock. And of course, before leaving the hotel, we took our time to enjoy our breakfast.
We got our backpacks and started walking to the station. It wasn't raining anymore, but it was hot. Really hot... By the time we arrived at the station, after half an hour of walking, we were sweating like mad.
We took the first train on the line to Ueno (Tokyo) at Sendai station. It was a local train, and it didn't reach Tokyo. It's last stop was Haranomach, a small town somewhere in the Fukushima prefecture. That was all right though, since we had no real place to go to. When we arrived, we asked at the hotels near the station, but they were all fully booked. There was some sort of festival about samurais going on in the city, which was probably the reason why the hotels were all full. Anyway, we decided to stay there for a while, have some lunch, and then catch the next train. There wasn't too much to see, and it was extremely hot, but it was nice to be there. We had seen a park drawn in the map at the station, and wanted to get there to sit down and eat. There was nothing to sit on though, and the ground was full of ants, so we headed back to a place we had seen on our way there that had a small table and some stones around where we could sit on.
After having lunch and resting there for some time, we set off for the station, making a brief stop at a store to buy some cold drinks. Once again, due to my thirst, I drank a whole liter of orange juice in about five minutes.
We took the next train, which was also a local one, and got off at Iwaki, it's last stop. We could have taken a limited express train half an hour later, but then again, our plan wasn't to get to Tokyo as fast as we could, but to stop somewhere along the way and spend a night there. Iwaki, however, didn't appeal to us, so in the end, we cought the limited express and went to Tokyo... Yep, we're back in Tokyo again! We both missed it anyway, so it might not be so bad to have gotten here so early.
In Tokyo, we took the subway to Asakusa, in order to get a room at the hostel we had stayed at earlier. The subway was completely crowded, so we got pushed in by the staff there. Fortunately, our stop was the last one, so we didn't need to make our way through the masses of people before us to get out. The problem began when we got out at Asakusa station. The streets were even more crowded than the subway. We asked someone on the street what that was all about and he said that it was because of the fireworks. Fireworks? Hmm... Fireworks... Where have I heard that before...? Oh, yeah, there should be some fireworks on the last Saturday of the month, but... Oh, it IS the last saturday of the month! Great... '¬¬. The police had blocked the entrance of cars over the whole place in order to make more place for all the visitors, but it was still not enough...
We though "Hey, let's leave our luggage at the hostel and go watch the fireworks!". There was but one slight problem. Let me explain: Get a map of Tokyo (for example at maps.google.com) and find Asakusa subway station. Ok, do you see the river nearby, and the bridge over it? Yeah, our hostel was located on the other side. The bridge happened to be the best spot to see the fireworks. I don't think I can explain how many people there were on the bridge. There was absolutely no possibility of crossing it. So, there we were, with over 15kg on our shoulders and moving through the crowds at five steps per minute trying to get to the next bridge... When we got there, a police officer told us that it was closed, and that we should go to the other one. Yeah, the first one, the one with the masses of people on it. By then, Pia was already crying out of pain because of the weight of the backpack. I gave her my camera case and took her backpack, and we continued walking, looking for a hotel on that side of the river. After a while searching, we decided that it was no use, and took the subway to the other side of the river. We didn't do that in the first place because we were trying to save some money and thought that there would be some way to cross the bridge.
When we arrived at our hostel, they told us that there were no free rooms left. We walked over to another hostel we knew that was nearby, but again, there were no free rooms left. When we asked if they knew any capsule hotel nearby, they told us that we probably wouldn't find any rooms in that area because of the fireworks, and that we should try at Tokyo station. There was no direct subway connection between where we were and Tokyo Station, so we got off at the nearest stop and walked there, looking for cheap hotels (meaning capsule hotels) along the way. In the end, we arrived at Tokyo station without having found any. Finally we saw a hotel called "Heimat" (oh, how I love irony...). We had been walking for three hours, and I had had over 30kg on my shoulders for two hours, so we just though "Screw the money, we'll pay whatever it costs (of course, there's a limit to everything)...". It was relatively cheap for a hotel, though: 4830 each for a double room with a private bathroom and shower, a TV and an air conditioner. It's not like we can afford that price every night, but we seriously were expecting having to pay a lot more for a room tonight.
After sitting on our bed for an hour, and taking a thirty-minute-long shower, my feet finally started to feel a little better.
My shoulders were completely red, and I had a few spots on my sking that were bleeding, but at least we had found a nice hotel to stay at. I was already thinking of going to a park and sleeping there, so...
By the way, no, I don't have any pictures of the crowds at Asakusa, or the firewors, or anything between the time we got out of the subway station at Asakusa and our arrival at the Hotel. I was not really in the mood to start taking pictures, and even if I wanted, my camera has to be held very steadily at night in order to take a proper picture, and I was way too tired to hold it still.
We got our backpacks and started walking to the station. It wasn't raining anymore, but it was hot. Really hot... By the time we arrived at the station, after half an hour of walking, we were sweating like mad.
We took the first train on the line to Ueno (Tokyo) at Sendai station. It was a local train, and it didn't reach Tokyo. It's last stop was Haranomach, a small town somewhere in the Fukushima prefecture. That was all right though, since we had no real place to go to. When we arrived, we asked at the hotels near the station, but they were all fully booked. There was some sort of festival about samurais going on in the city, which was probably the reason why the hotels were all full. Anyway, we decided to stay there for a while, have some lunch, and then catch the next train. There wasn't too much to see, and it was extremely hot, but it was nice to be there. We had seen a park drawn in the map at the station, and wanted to get there to sit down and eat. There was nothing to sit on though, and the ground was full of ants, so we headed back to a place we had seen on our way there that had a small table and some stones around where we could sit on.
After having lunch and resting there for some time, we set off for the station, making a brief stop at a store to buy some cold drinks. Once again, due to my thirst, I drank a whole liter of orange juice in about five minutes.
We took the next train, which was also a local one, and got off at Iwaki, it's last stop. We could have taken a limited express train half an hour later, but then again, our plan wasn't to get to Tokyo as fast as we could, but to stop somewhere along the way and spend a night there. Iwaki, however, didn't appeal to us, so in the end, we cought the limited express and went to Tokyo... Yep, we're back in Tokyo again! We both missed it anyway, so it might not be so bad to have gotten here so early.
In Tokyo, we took the subway to Asakusa, in order to get a room at the hostel we had stayed at earlier. The subway was completely crowded, so we got pushed in by the staff there. Fortunately, our stop was the last one, so we didn't need to make our way through the masses of people before us to get out. The problem began when we got out at Asakusa station. The streets were even more crowded than the subway. We asked someone on the street what that was all about and he said that it was because of the fireworks. Fireworks? Hmm... Fireworks... Where have I heard that before...? Oh, yeah, there should be some fireworks on the last Saturday of the month, but... Oh, it IS the last saturday of the month! Great... '¬¬. The police had blocked the entrance of cars over the whole place in order to make more place for all the visitors, but it was still not enough...
We though "Hey, let's leave our luggage at the hostel and go watch the fireworks!". There was but one slight problem. Let me explain: Get a map of Tokyo (for example at maps.google.com) and find Asakusa subway station. Ok, do you see the river nearby, and the bridge over it? Yeah, our hostel was located on the other side. The bridge happened to be the best spot to see the fireworks. I don't think I can explain how many people there were on the bridge. There was absolutely no possibility of crossing it. So, there we were, with over 15kg on our shoulders and moving through the crowds at five steps per minute trying to get to the next bridge... When we got there, a police officer told us that it was closed, and that we should go to the other one. Yeah, the first one, the one with the masses of people on it. By then, Pia was already crying out of pain because of the weight of the backpack. I gave her my camera case and took her backpack, and we continued walking, looking for a hotel on that side of the river. After a while searching, we decided that it was no use, and took the subway to the other side of the river. We didn't do that in the first place because we were trying to save some money and thought that there would be some way to cross the bridge.
When we arrived at our hostel, they told us that there were no free rooms left. We walked over to another hostel we knew that was nearby, but again, there were no free rooms left. When we asked if they knew any capsule hotel nearby, they told us that we probably wouldn't find any rooms in that area because of the fireworks, and that we should try at Tokyo station. There was no direct subway connection between where we were and Tokyo Station, so we got off at the nearest stop and walked there, looking for cheap hotels (meaning capsule hotels) along the way. In the end, we arrived at Tokyo station without having found any. Finally we saw a hotel called "Heimat" (oh, how I love irony...). We had been walking for three hours, and I had had over 30kg on my shoulders for two hours, so we just though "Screw the money, we'll pay whatever it costs (of course, there's a limit to everything)...". It was relatively cheap for a hotel, though: 4830 each for a double room with a private bathroom and shower, a TV and an air conditioner. It's not like we can afford that price every night, but we seriously were expecting having to pay a lot more for a room tonight.
After sitting on our bed for an hour, and taking a thirty-minute-long shower, my feet finally started to feel a little better.
My shoulders were completely red, and I had a few spots on my sking that were bleeding, but at least we had found a nice hotel to stay at. I was already thinking of going to a park and sleeping there, so...
By the way, no, I don't have any pictures of the crowds at Asakusa, or the firewors, or anything between the time we got out of the subway station at Asakusa and our arrival at the Hotel. I was not really in the mood to start taking pictures, and even if I wanted, my camera has to be held very steadily at night in order to take a proper picture, and I was way too tired to hold it still.
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Having lunch in Haranomachi
On the train, somewhere near Tokyo. The sunset was really beautyful.
The subway...
The view from our hotel room. The white building on the left is Tokyo Station.
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