Super Angie...National Museum and riding the swan

We wanted to climb Fuji on Wednesday, but the early bus we wanted to take was full, so we got reservations for Thursday instead. That left Wednesday open for us and Rick wanted to visit a museum. He decided to go to the National Museum of Japan. I'm glad we did.

The complex/park is just a gorgeous area, and although I'm sure a lot of tourists go to the museum, I'm not sure many visit the surrounding park area, which is really sad. It was extremely humid (I'm talking sweat dripping off us while we stood still) but so beautiful and worth all the sweating.
A samuri walking his dog...this statue was to remind you that the Samuri were people too and did "normal" things.

A statue of a mother with her children. I was really missing mine.
This shrine or temple (not sure what it was) was so pretty inside, but we weren't allowed to take pictures. There were some monks inside chanting and banging a drum. That was neat to watch and listen to. It was also special to see worshipers come in and to watch the special rituals they all did.
The park was just lush and green and peaceful. Lots of bird and insect sounds.
So many ornate lamps and doorways.
The chipmunks sing a song about a Japanese Banana, so everywhere we went, if we saw a banana, we had to take a picture. And can you beat Hello Kitty holding some bananas?

These prayer tablets (or whatever they are called) were really interesting.




We came upon all these water plants.
People all over the world are the same...taking pictures of all the flowers and the turtles in the water.

Being HUGE fans of the Amazing Race, we could not resist going on a swan boat ride around the small lake in the park.


It was just awesome and very relaxing to sit out in the lake and feel the breeze...and rest our feet.

We thought it was really neat to walk through all these gates that led down to a private shrine.

Not sure, but this dog type statue was found all over this particulare shrine or temple. Again, the red bibs.



Rick and I really loved seeing all the shrines throughout the park. Some were busy with wi
So many hidden gems throughout the park. Little quiet places to worship or meditate.
A Japanese totem pole. This one had zoo animals on it. I think was put up simply to let people know they were getting closer to the zoo.

We found this little amusement park. Looked like great "kiddy" rides and we thought about our kids the whole time we walked by it.
We kept seeing panda toys for sell outside the zoo, so we figured, "there is a panda at the zoo!" but sadly, we saw this sign. Its a good thing we saw it when we did because we were just about ready to buy admission to go in. We'll take the kids there for sure, but for us, we passed for the day.

I didn't take any more pictures that day, but we did enjoy the Museum and the lunch we had there. It was very hot and humid out and I was so tired that day...much like I am right now. Tired from Jet Lag....


--Super Angie