I saw many gardens. In the heat of not-yet-fall I had to watch for blossoming vines. The one above was in the Imperial Palace Gardens East. I found a couple of others there too on the edges of the tall trees and carefully cut shrubs. It was so hot the day I visited that signs were out warning of heat stroke. The young Australian man—grandson type—who walked with me from the train station and I took advantage of the “cool house”where visitors were encouraged to cool off in air conditioning and enjoy a cold drink. Drink vending machines are everywhere and drinking fountains reside near bathrooms in museums. Most places the best bet for water if your bottle is empty is a vending machine for 120 or 130 yen. That roughly translates to $1.20 or 1.30. Keeping a supply of coins is important. I have a picture of the vending machines but it’s on the camera so not yet available.
I’m writing from a loud coffee/Internet cafe and bar in the Detroit airport. Jenni apparently thought customs would take a long time so I got in from Nagoya about 3:45 and have a 10:36 EDT to Nashville. Once settled in Japan, I could only access this website in Japanese!
I walked not so gracefully around this park enjoying watching people gathering to visit or sauntering through the streets getting tired before coming upon the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. The building is low to the ground and many of the viewing galleries are underground. The information said that it was built so it wouldn’t take away from the views of the trees and shrubs in the park. I was delighted to find an impressionist and post-impressionist special exhibit from the Courtauld Collection in London! It was beautifully hung with scenes from life in Paris or at the homes of the artists interspersed. The Cezanne painting of Mt. St. Victoire made me “homesick for Provence as driving north from the village where I lived this mountain pointed the way.
It’s hard to keep on WiFi here and frustrating so I’ll sign off for now.
Much of the time I toured around alone, looking for the train or subway and the exit from either that would turn me out near the shrine or museum I wanted to visit. That's why it took so long to find the art museum in Ueno Park.
I took this picture in Ueno Park because the locals were photographing it. This large tree was toppled by the Typhoon that drenched Tokyo on Sunday night and early Monday morning before I left for my Tokyo visit. It is so unusual for the winds to bring down such a large specimen that it gathered a crowd. My train was about an hour late and my plan for reaching the hotel I booked had to change because the local JR trains weren't yet cleared to run. A lovely young man, another grandson type, had free time because his girl friend's train wasn't running so she couldn't meet him in Tokyo. He and I found an alternate route to my hotel and he went along, carrying my backpack which held my big camera.
This is a very disjointed blog post which I'm completing after arriving home at midnight. I'm going to leave it at this and write more on a new post.
I walked not so gracefully around this park enjoying watching people gathering to visit or sauntering through the streets getting tired before coming upon the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. The building is low to the ground and many of the viewing galleries are underground. The information said that it was built so it wouldn’t take away from the views of the trees and shrubs in the park. I was delighted to find an impressionist and post-impressionist special exhibit from the Courtauld Collection in London! It was beautifully hung with scenes from life in Paris or at the homes of the artists interspersed. The Cezanne painting of Mt. St. Victoire made me “homesick for Provence as driving north from the village where I lived this mountain pointed the way.
No comments:
Post a Comment