On to Tokyo

 2nd post today-We got to eat at the Varsity one last time-our farewell meal in the US for another year!

 waiting to get on the plane

 The kids-watching their year's allottment of tv-at least they have good stuff for kids to watch and they are quiet

 Ashley playing in our hotel room the next morning-when we arrived it took us nearly 2 hours on a bus to get to our hotel and we were all just beyond exhausted.  This was after taking most of our bags to the other terminal from where we landed to check them to stay at the airport.

 The hotel's buffet breakfast area-I had never seen topiaries made of eggs before-they had an omelet station, pancakes, french toast, all kinds of breads, cheeses, fruits, and cereals, and then asian breakfast choices too

 We went exploring on foot to see a park near the hotel

 at first it looked like people live in the park to-below are clothes hanging out to dry-above is some kind of bell tower.

 We found some neat playgrounds-don't have any idea what this sign says!

 Above is the metropolitan government building-there is an observatory floor that we rode up to and saw a beautiful view of the city.

 inside the building

 looking out at Tokyo's skyline

 I laughed at seeing the Aflac duck in Japan

 yes we still think fire trucks are cool!

 One of the MANY times we were in a train station on this trip

 The little red signs at the bottom of this map say "you are here" both in English and Japanese-I was surprised at how much English labeling there was in Tokyo.

 The outside of the hotel and the kids room

 toilets and showers with instructions-thank goodness for pictures!

 Back on the train headed to the zoo-We met a friend of a friend of ours who is in Tokyo with her husband's job.  She met us at the zoo with 3 of her children and we had a wonderful day together!  So glad to have met y'all in person, Heather!

 what is it about kids and studying zoo maps???

 The elephants-I laughed b/c Heather and her kids are more Asian than we are-they have been here longer-that is her daughter with the umbrella!

 Heather and I with all the kids and the elephant statue-I believe this was the first time I had ever met someone that I had only previously been a fb friend with.

 Another Asian thing-a fan-it was Heather's and of course Ashley wanted it b/c it was pink and Heather was kind enough to give it to her!  so nice!

 It was SO hot here that I have NO earthly idea how this polar bear survives here!  We hoped that the zoo cooled the water he had to swim in.

 They even had a train at the zoo and we rode it!

Don't know how the penguins survive the heat in Tokyo either!

 We saw neat animals-giraffe and rhino

 We kept having to stop for cool treats!

 crazy faces

 You can't really tell in this picture but the building below  is a Starbucks coffee shop

 This was the train station near the zoo