Day 14 Pictures
Day 16 Pictures
Day 13
The official last day of the tour was free for us to do as we pleased in Tokyo and would normally have concluded with the feast.
After a very lazy start to the day we wandered around the area and ended up back in the Ginza are where we met a couple of our group for lunch. I am ashamed to say this was at a Wendy’s.
We then went to Itoya which is a store dedicated to paper and paper related activities such as calligraphy etc. We did some more shopping at the local Matsuya department store before wandering our back along the streets towards our hotel and our scheduled meeting with the tour guide. As we had feasted the night before we had arranged this evening to meet our guide for a quick drinks and say our farewells.
We had a farewell drink with the guide and said our goodbyes to him. Then it was on to Roppongi Hills to meet another two of our group for dinner.
Our last meal with the remaining members of the tour was Udon noodles and tempura prawns and was very tasty indeed.
Of course the reason why we ended up in Roppongi Hills was that our cake-a-holic had found out that the chef at one of the restaurants there had won some prize in a world cake competition or something or other. So it was after this meal that we also went for our last cake and coffee for the tour. After overdosing on our calorie intake for the day we grabbed cabs back to our hotel and our final farewells to our new friends.
As this was mainly a shopping day the camera didn't make it out the pouch today.
Day 14
This day was a cultural one for us. We checked out of our hotel and dropped our bags with the bell boy.
We then took the subway to Ueno and to the Tokyo National Museum.
After having lunch there and walking around three buildings in this mammoth complex for several hours looking at ancient Japanese artefacts we were quite tired.
We caught the subway back to Otemachi station to visit the Imperial Palace Gardens. These gardens were quite lovely and very expansive. There were many sakura along with many Azaleas and Rhododendrons of many colours.
We made our way back to the hotel to pick up our bags and a cab to our new hotel for the next two nights. We decided to end the trip with a bit of luxury and opted for a two night stay at the Westin Tokyo. It was very nice to be in a Heavenly bed again and the room had a fabulous view over Tokyo.
Day 15
My travelling companion decided to go to Tokyo Disney this day and meet up with three remaining tour members for a day of fun.
I decided to chill at the hotel and do some more shopping down in the Ginza area. I was ready to end my holiday at this stage a really just wanted to come back home to some normalcy.
I wandered around the Ginza visiting music stores and the like before heading back to Ebisu to grab some salad for dinner.
I forgot to take my camera with me this day so no pictures.
Day 16
Our last full day in Japan was pretty uneventful. After breakfast we headed back to explore the Roppongi Hills area. This was quite a disappointment. There were some shops and departments stores but nothing to really tempt us and it turned out to be a bit of a wasted day. We went back to Ebisu and grabbed a coffee and bought some sweets to take back to the UK for friends at work.
We then checked out at 4pm from our hotel and caught the bus to Narita. An hour later we arrived at Narita. I had already warned my travelling companion that officials board the bus as the bus gets to the airport grounds to check passports and to make sure that he had his to hand on the bus.
At T2 we found the bus stop for our hotel for the night, just outside of Narita airport. We caught the bus, checked in and ate an expensive, we have you captive and will charge accordingly, dinner at the hotel before retiring for one last night in Japan.
A few pictures of the Westin and the view are all I could manage this day.
Day 14 Pictures
Day 16 Pictures