Our First Easter in Japan

Happy Easter, everyone!  I was going to try and translate it to Japanese but since it's not really a typical Japanese greeting there were differing opinions on a common way to write it.

Easter found Doug, "A" and myself on (what else?) another ITT trip.  We woke up pretty early to get a good seat on the tour bus.  So early, that the Easter Bunny didn't get a chance to leave anything in the apartment.  BAD EASTER BUNNY!

But never fear, we caught up to him at our Easter Brunch at the New Sanno Hotel, the first stop on our tour.  The New Sanno is a hotel run by the Navy and is located in downtown Tokyo fairly close to Roppongi.  They offer a really nice Sunday Brunch Buffet which we partook in.  "A" enjoyed spending time with the Easter Bunny, who kept walking around the dining room, handing out candy.

Thank goodness for a large brunch buffet, we would need it as we headed to our next stop, Ueno Park. Ueno Park can be found in Northern Tokyo and contains many museums and a zoo.  Our destination was Ueno Zoo, but the bus dropped us off at one of the entrances to the park so we needed to walk a fair bit to get to the zoo.  Alas, it was a beautiful spring day and the cherry blossoms were in bloom and it was a Sunday in Tokyo so most people had the day off.  Seems that they were all at Ueno Park...

But our tour guide held up her bright orange colored Yokota Tour flag and we followed along like good little soldiers.  If you don't like crowds then Tokyo really isn't the place for you.  You can't escape them. 

After a few minutes, we made it to the zoo entrance and waited for our guide to get us our tickets.

Now if you are like us, you've been to many zoos and I doubt you really need to see dozens of photos of the typical zoo animals.  So, I'll just post a few of the more interesting species.  

Our first stop, the Giant Panda house.  "A" was excited to see the Pandas because A) in DC the pandas were always sleeping when we tried to view them, then they were returned to China our last year there, B) "A"'s school mascot is the Panda.  Here she is waiting in line to get into the Giant Panda house.

Look at him (or her, but for continuity's sake I'll just stick with "he")!  He is so cute, just hanging out while hundreds of people walk past and take photos of him.

As long as he had bamboo to munch on...

Along with the Giant Panda, there were eagles and flamingos...

Red Eared Slider turtles in the pond (hmmm... I know where to drop off ours now)...

Hippos..

Rhinos...

Meerkats...

And the most fearsome of all creatures!

Besides looking at fearsome creatures, we got to enjoy the beautiful scenery around the zoo.  Ueno Park has a gorgeous five-storied pagoda on its grounds and it's beauty was only heightened by the cherry blossoms that were in bloom through out the park.

It was a perfect spring day in Tokyo, the sun was shining and it wasn't that cold.  Doesn't the city look peaceful?  You could almost forget that you are sharing that view with thousands of other people.  Almost forget.

With the flowers in bloom, I needed to get some shots of all the pretty flowers.  So pretty.

After a few hours walking around the zoo with Tokyoites, it was time to go home.

We arrived to our apartment by early evening only to discover that the sneaky Easter Bunny had not forgotten "A".  She opened the door to find a trail of Easter eggs leading from the front door to her playroom and....

THE JACKPOT!!!

Happy Easter everyone and we look forward to sharing our next adventure with you.