Visiting Aunt and Uncle

My Aunt and Uncle (Mary Ann and Don) are visiting this week. They took an organized tour of the "Treasures of Japan" over the week or more before and then I picked them up in Tokyo as the rest of their tour was headed to the airport. Their tour mates were apparently impressed that they were staying for a bit more...

Once we met up in Tokyo, we stashed their bags at the hotel and headed to Ueno to visit some of the museums there. We burnt ourselves out visiting the Western Art exhibit with classic art from the Medieval period to present, the Science and Nature Museum with 6 stories of "How it Works" exhibits, and then the Japanese National Museum with some very genuine Japanese history on display.

Our next day was to Mt. Nokogiri which involves a train ride down to Kurihama, a bus ride (bus #2 BTW), down to the port, on the ferry across Tokyo Bay, then up the cableway to the top. It's a bit of a trek to get out there, but they were happy to get to a place less traveled and noticed that we were the only "tourists" (Caucasians) out there. They are avid hikers, but the numerous pitched climbs up steps was a bit more than they expected. It was still a very nice day trip.

Yesterday was Kamikura, which was the Samurai period capital of Japan. We saw the Big Buddha and then headed out on a 3 mile hike through the hills. It was a pretty hike for the most part, but certainly a bit rougher than I'm used to from US trails. We survived, but were certainly ready to hit the train after the walk. Just as well, the Temples at the end of the walk were starting to close at 4:00PM. We then inadvertently extended our tour by getting on the train going the wrong way. I finally noticed after 4 stops when I hadn't recognized any of them... Oops. :]