Japan April 2003 (cont'd)
Day 7 Kyoto to Tokyo
Getting to Kyoto station was pretty easy with the bags on the subway. The elevators and escalators were handy and the train not to full of people.
The Shinkansen to Tokyo was so fast the trip just flew by and before we knew it we were at Tokyo Station. Now it got tough. We had no idea which platform to take and it wasn't 'til Kim discovered some faint markings on the pages sent to us by the tour company we had a clue what to do. Yamanote Line was the answer and that was Platform 5. Fortunately we'd managed to stumble our way in that direction anyway and after a short stair climb with the backs and a short wait we were on a train to Shimbashi station - 5 minutes walk from the Daichi Hotel.
Check in was a little slow - first the girls were in a room too far from Kim and Phil - then the next rooms smelt of smoke. Finally the hotel came up with non-smoking rooms next door to each other - no connecting door though.
Time for special treats. First we headed to Akihabara to look at the electronic stores - now easy to get to with JR Pass and an understanding of the Tokyo lines. We bought a really cool new digital camera.
Second treat was we headed to Tokyo Disneyland to take advantage of the after 6pm discount. What a deal! It wasn't too busy, beautiful night with a full moon, great temperature and we managed to ride all the FastPass rides at least once - Splash mountain, Big Thunder, Space Mountain, Poohs Hunny Hunt. We also rode Small World, Peter Pan twice, Snow White, Toon Coaster and a few others too. Turkey legs, Pizza and Calzone for dinner plus a really amazing parade.
Akihabara Electric Town / First Photo with the new digitial camera / Sunset at Tokyo Disneyland
At the entrance / Splash Mountain / Big Parade
Poohs Hunny Hunt / Toon Town / Merry-go-round
Fantastic night of treats.
Back on the train we went for Tokyo station - 10 minute walk in the station to Yamanote line - then Shimbashi and the hotel and bed.