Japan: Tokyo Nights

Ok, so technically, Tokyo was two nights and one day, but due to Aliana's schedule upset, it's seemed much more like one long night.  It started out harmlessly enough... we got up Saturday morning, and miraculously she slept longer than her usual 5am wakeup call... (which is not too upsetting since that's when I get up anyway), and let her parents do last-minute packing.  

Things were good.  The stroller enjoyed being shoved into taxis and buses and an airplane while the rest of us enjoyed our Business Class airplane ride.... no, that's not the norm (lots of extra frequent flyer miles wanting to be used!) and from the looks we got from the rest of the 1st class passengers when we took our seats near them, it wasn't the norm for many other people either.  I mean REALLY, a BABY in BUSINESS CLASS?  What is WRONG with these people??  Well, she was good.  She won over the flight attendants and it was only a 2-hour trip after all.  

If only the rest of the day went this smoothly.  

I had heard so much about trains and travel in Tokyo and how easy it all was... well, those people clearly were not traveling with an infant.


Not that it was impossible, it's just that the 1.5 hour train ride into Tokyo from Narita with all of our stuff and a hot, tired, hungry baby was... challenged by the fact that we could not find our hotel... I'd gotten some misinformation from the website about the location of the hotel and we ended up at the wrong train stop.  So there we were, wheeling our two suitcases, 3 carry-ons and our stroller through the streets of Tokyo until a very kind Japanese construction worker brought us to a police station where about 7 policemen poured over maps of the area trying to decide where our hotel was.   Finally, we just hopped in a taxi, (all right, hopped is the wrong word with all of the stuff we had with us) who also ended up stopping at a different police station where after 10 minutes of sitting in a hot taxi with the meter running, the taxi driver finally felt confident about the location of the hotel and we drove around one more corner and found our hotel.  right behind the Japanese equivalent of a 7-11.  


The rest of the night went better as we met up with a friend for dinner after navigating our way through the Tokyo subway, which was pretty uneventful and easy after living our pre-baby lives in NYC.  

Sleeping was tough as the hotel concierge nearly laughed in our faces when we asked if they had a crib... and when we got to our room we realized why.  Ok, duh.  We're in Japan.  Our room made my NYC studio apt look like a townhouse. 

So we didn't sleep much.  Aliana decided she loved sleeping in the bed with Mommy and Daddy so much that she would alternate between serenading us all night and kicking us to make sure we were staying awake to listen to her.  

 

Thank goodness for our laptop and Baby Einstein DVDs, or Mike and I never would have been able to get ready for the day.... which we decided to do at about 4:30am, when we gave up trying to sleep and instead try to catch the fish auction at the famous fish market.  Umm... nope.  Aliana didn't like that idea so much so she decided when we finally boarded the subway that she would rather have breakfast right there on the train.  And everyone else on the train had to be aware of that, too.  Here she is, enjoying her breakfast.   

It wasn't until we arrived at the stop for the fish market that she decided she wanted her morning nap.  So, when we got off the train, I nursed her right there in the subway station and she went to sleep.  We miraculously got her transferred to her stroller asleep between the train arrivals so she wouldn't wake up (we were SO thankful for our beat-up old stroller then!) and headed out into the morning light.  

I was born in the year of the dragon, so naturally, I needed a picture here.

Mike and I took that opportunity to grab a much-needed coffee, and then found our way to the market.  By that time, of course, the auction was done and over with, so we checked out a temple right next to the market.

...and then enjoyed a breakfast of the absolute freshest sushi we've ever had.  

Fresh, fresh, fresh!  The clams were spitting at us.

We had a good time wandering the streets around the market....

 ....and then headed back to our hotel where we all took a very long morning nap.



The rest of the day consisted of a lot more subways and cursing our decision to bring the stroller as we spent most of the day searching for elevators in and out of subways, but we saw some of Tokyo in between.  It's a good thing Aliana is so cute.  She's somewhat of a celebrity in Asia with her huge blue eyes, and while we are snapping photos of the sights around us, those around us were snapping pictures of her.  

Two paraders who just wanted to flirt with Aliana.

We also ran into a bunch of parades around Shibuya, although I'm still unsure as to what the parades were about... all I know is that the women were all carrying these huge (heavy-looking) floats while the men were walking behind them... (what's up with that?) although everyone had huge smiles and looked like they were having a great time.

who wouldn't want to parade through the streets of Tokyo in underwear and socks?

No one is going to rain on his parade.

Aliana is caught up in the action.

Happy women float-bearers.

Two beautiful Japanese women

Some boys more interested in their cars than the parade...

It was a long day of checking out the city and we headed back exhausted and hungry and enjoyed another great Japanese meal- we were so very grateful to find a traditional Japanese restaurant where we could sit on the floor, so that we could change Aliana and let her kick around on her back.  She loves that.