Saturday 7th May 2016 (updated)

With the red wine and and beer drunk on the rooftop bar, I slept long and deep, as did Jools, so it came as a shick to be woken at eight by Jen telling us it was time for breakfast. We have a quick shower each, the go to the restaurant at the top of the building for a choice of French toast and bacon or something Japanese. We chose French Toast as we did all three mornings, along with coffee and fruit.

Outside it was a glorious day, and felt like summer on the inside of the ceiling to floor plate glass windows. Phew, its gonna be a scorcher! And what better way to spend the day than with our very own private tour guide.

What better indeed.

We met Maki at nine, and after some introductions, it was decided to go to Tokyo Station to exchange our vouchers for rail passes, thus making the rest of the travelling on the holibob possible. It also allowed us to be shown how to use the Metro, swiping our cards and looking at the map to plan a route. Handily, all lines have letter prefixes, and each station is numbered, so we were staying near K19, and to find our way back, get to the K line and go to the end, and Bob's you Aunt's live in lover. As it were.

We walked to the subway station, passing the lines of people waiting to go into the Thunder Gate temple, and also the gangs of rickshaw drivers touting for business with their tight buns and all dressed in the same way.

I was in heaven, I have been dreaming of travelling on the Tokyo Subway, but I was doing it for real, and snapping. All.The.Time.

We had to change a few stops along the line to get onto an overground suburban line for the run into Tokyo station. I was happy enough looking at the people queuing nicely on each platform as I looked over the lines of platforms. On each platform were more vending machines, but as ever I made do with snapping the scene and the people, always interesting

We arrived at Tokyo Station, Man, it was already hot, but Maki pointed out the profusion of vending machines. Everywhere, and for 110 Yet you can buy a half litre of cool h2o.

She lead us through various parts of the station to the rail tour office, we all filled out a lengthy form, then we were given our pass which gave us unlimited train travel for two whole weeks. We take in the scene of the main concourse, and the high arched roof of the reception hall outside the tourist office. We all take shots of it.

That done and the fact the Imperial Gardens were nearby, that is where we walked to next, through a maze of modern glass skyscrapers, over half empty 6 lane roads, and to the entrance to the gardens. Once upon a time it was the residence of the Emperor, he still have a third of it or something, but the rest is a public garden, which is littered with historic buildings, defensive walls and the remains of castles and storehouses and the like.

We walk along the main road before taking the path to the main entrance, between two ornamental lakes which reflected the walls and the modern city behind. We pay to go in for us and our guide, then entrance we walk through massive wooden gates, about 18 inches thick and made form the hardest wood I have seen.

All along the path, as it climbed, and forming the base of buildings, were walls made of massive stones, interlocked together like a giant 3D jigsaw, but built using no mortar, and some of the stones must have weighed tons, and carved into irregular shapes, so tight did they fit together that no vegetation grew from between them.

Did I mention it was hot? It was hot.

But the gardens were sensational, and gave us an understanding of the different prefectures in Japan, as all were represented. Also there was green tea plants and bamboo. And on the wing I saw three different species of swallowtail butterfly, but I had left my macro in the hotel, so made do with watching them flit about.

The path wanders through the gardens, view open up, across flower beds or lakes, but it doesn't seem crowded at all. It was coming to the end of the wisteria season, and hanging from the roofs of some of the shelters were long strands of the colourful plant. Little did we know that we would see wild wisteria trees in about ten days high up in the hills.

We go further into the gardens, in time coing to a wide flat park-like area. People are having picnics already, but Maki leas us on, past the music hall, all colourfully decorated to an elevated platofrm, once again made of the same stones described before, which once was the base for the large imperial castle, all of that is long gone. But from the top, once I had huffed and puffed up the steep slop, was the roof of the Budokan music hall, once THE venue to record a live album, like Cheap Trick and MSG.

We had seen enough, probably, but we were just so hot already, and jet lagged, so we trailed behind Maki as she lead us back to the main entrance out of the Imperial Gardens.

We take a time out to have some water from a vending area before completing the tour round the gardens, before walking to Tokyo Station again, but this time getting a bus to the commercial area for a walk round the public fish market.

It was hotter.

We climb on an air conditioned bus and wait for it to depart, but it seems cool enough, of maybe we're just getting used to the heat already. We leave and are treated with views of the commercial heart of the city, or one of the commercial hearts anyway. It all looks wonderfully exotic. A couple behind me asks if we were passengers off a cruise ship that they had seen dock earlier; he was an American now living here with his Japanese partner. I say that we had just flown in, and were on this guided tour, and there were really interested about the things we were doing. He said he really liked living in Tokyo, and I'm sure its a place that never fails to amaze.

It seems all tourists in Tokyo, and a good proportion of its residents also had the same idea, as it was like Venice on a very busy day.

And it was hot.

We start off walking over the main road, then down some of the merchants proper, where through open doors we can see fish being prepared; people ran about, trucks were reversing and the number of people increased.

The sights and smells were fabulous, but the lanes were narrow and choked with people, all walking at different paces, some eating, some drinking and some walking with their family. We were trying to keep pace with Maki. Obviously most stalls and shops sold seafood of some kind, but there were fruit and vegetable stalls too. We were tempted to buy something, but it was hard to know where to start, and we puzzled over many of the items on sale, each with just signs in Japanese, of course. Most of the dried seaweed looked the same, but must be different in taste if nothing else.

I take a few shots, mainly of the crowds to be honest, it is just wonderful, but the crowds and the heat mean it isn't really enjoyable, but looking back on it now, I can say I loved it. Maki turned to head down another narrow alley, and I say out loud, "oh no, not another one" as it was all becoming too much. We were hot, and the others hungry.

After an hour of walking and looking, and it being half one, it was decided that it was lunchtime. Over the main road bordering the market was a swish sushi place, who had tables at the counter, so we could watch our food being prepared. Only I wasn't hungry, so made do with some rice and simple sushi whilst Jools and Jen had a set meal. I drank some ice cool beer.

I had another. I had a salad, which I struggled to eat with chop sticks, so the chef who had been appointed to serve us provided me with a fork.

We walked back outside, and down the busy street, me catching glimpses into the gambling halls and shops that abounded. I took shots all the time of course.

After that we walked through the commercial area to the Tokyo version of Harrods to look at their food halls. None of us are big shoppers really, and we did it as Maki made it sound like a great thing, and some of the displays were wonderful for sure. The displays even outshone anyhing that Harrods had last time I went; the food looked perfect and freshly baked food from all over the world was available, including from Britain. Once again we bought nothing, not know which queue was for which counter. Even the bentos looked like art, and local people seemed to be buying stacks.

Finally she took us to the trendy area, really, so we ccould look round the best souvenir shop in the city. We were not sure when or if we would see souvenir shops, so we did buy a few things for friends, family and ourselves. Jen bought a dressing gown kind of things, and I bought a wall hanging and some small trinkets for friends. We then said to Maki that we had enough confidence to use the metro, and as we were by Shibuya, where I wanted to snap in the evening, we would bid her farewell one hour early, and we would look for a coffee shop.

After looking in a couple, we found a place in a rooftop place, in the shade, but it was still warm, so we order ice coffee and take the weight off our feet, which after a day's travelling, maybe a seven hour forced march round Tokyo in 30 degree heat wasn't the best thing. But we had survived, but our legs and feet we making some complaints. People were coming and going all the time, all were smiling, and enjoying the very warm sunshine. Teens looked perfect in their smart clothes and make up, whilst couples had neatly wrapped packets and parcels in chic bags. And there was us, sweating like the Brits out of water we were, but no one cast us a second glance.

A couple came up looking for a table, and we offer them ours, and they are so thankful, and we all bow to each other and smile.

We took a Metro to Shibuya, and then went looking for the famous crossing, but we were an hour early, so maybe we should find something to eat. There was flashing neon lights everywhere, and it was all a bit confusing to be honest. Then Jen says there's a place to eat on the top floor of the mega camera store near us. I have no idea how she spooted that, maybe I was sidetracked by all the flashing lights and the wonderful things and people to photograph.

So we take the lift to the top floor, and are shown to a booth overlooking the street below, and shown how to use the tablet to order food and drinks. Some of it was even in English, which was nice. We order some nibbles and drinks, and pressed send. Twenty minutes later the food arrived, but no drinks, we called the waiter and sent him to fetch beers.

The food was things like chicken on sticks, and sausage; the only place we saw a sausage the whole trip.

And all was good, in fact we mellowed out and enjoyed looking out as the light faded and the neon shone brighter.

We went downstairs and I went looking for the crossing, a six-way pedestrian crossing that is iconic, I took a place looking towards the brightest lights and snapped away.

We walk to another intersection and I try to make sense of it all, all the while taking shots, of course. I look down one of the road, under a railway bridge, and I think that might be the busy intersection I was hoping to snap.

It was, and with traffic zooming across at high speed, then every 5 minutes all traffic is stopped, and all pedestrian crossings switch to green and then there are hundreds, if not thousands making their way across the roads. Tow of the crossings even went diagonally across the crossing, the mixing in the middle.

It was a scene you can only imagine, I switched to the wide angle and slowed the shutter speed down and snapped some more. There was still some light in the sky, so the shots were pretty darn perfect, even I says so myself.

Happy with my shots, and the fact our legs and feet were screaming, we made our way back to the Metro then back to the hotel and back to the rooftop bar. The shops outside the Thunder Gate were rammed with people, and we had to really force our way through, but in a nice way.

It was a heck of a day, and we had achieved so much. And found our way back with no trouble either.

We played cards on the roof, with the Sky Tree shining a mile away, looking wonderful, and so we decided that we would go there the next evening. It was a much warmer evening, so we could sit under the starless sky whilst we played Meld. That and drank beer, wine and Gin, but not from the same glass, obvs.

Cheers