Day 3 ~ Sakura watching at Sumida riverside and Yanaka cemetery

Mina-san, konnichiwa^^

On the third day I wanted to meet my Email friend Kyoji in Asakusa because he wanted to show us nice places to watch Sakura. Kiki and Aya came along, too. But at breakfast Kiki found out her tights got a ladder so she had to return and change outfit. So I went ahead so that Kyoji wasn't wondering where we are. But because I didn't know his age or a photo, I was wondering what kind of guy will await me... He seems to be around 60 years, so I'm going fot the olders guys again^^'
We start chatting a little till Kiki and Aya arrived. They were also surprised and started to imagine crazy things about him and me, so there came out many laughters.

First we went on the roof of the Asakusa Tourist Center (in which we met) from where you have a really nice view over the area and Tokyo Sky Tree.

view over Nakamise-dori & Sensoji Temple

Tokyo Sky Tree view

Our trip started towards Sumida river. On the riverside there are almost only Sakura trees. Because of the nice sunny weather it was really beautiful and relaxing to walk along the riverside. Finally I got to experience spring this year^o^

left riverside

white sakura

sakura view with Tokyo Sky Tree in the background^^

For getting some luck we took a short circuit to a little Cat Temple. There were statures of the Chinese Cat everywhere, it was really cute^.^

little Neko (cats) in front of the temple

'Neko Temple'

'Neko Welcome' ^.^

Kiki bought a charm for luck in love and tried a fortune telling charm. She got the best luck possible^o^

Back to river we passed a bridge and went back at the other riverside where also many many cherry trees bloom^.^
We also took a circuit to a Japanese garden; sooo beautiful^o^

Sakura in the garden

view over the Japanese garden

Then we headed back to inner Asakusa for having lunch. Kyoji knew a nice little Monjayaki Restaurant so we went there. It was really small inside but somehow cool. Aya chose three different types of Monjayaki for us. In the middle of the table were a Teppan (grill) on which we could make it ourselves. Aya was a really good cook^o^
So tasted Monjayaki with meat and cabbage, with meat and soba and with bacon, meat and cheese. It was not as good as okonomiyaki but it was a cool experience and quite delicious, too^^

Aya making the Monjayaki

you eat the Monjayaki from a seperate little plate

After lunch we passed by Senoji Temple in the heart of Asakusa. It was crowded but it is a nice area. From their we head back over Nakamise-dori where there is one shop after another selling traditional items or food. I like it very much but it was too crowded to look qualmly >.< So we just passed by till be passed the front gate and arrived back at the Tourist Center.

Senoji-Temple

Pagoda besides the temple

Nakamise-dori (from temple)

From the Tourist Center we wanted to head via Yanaka by bus. But first Kyoji brought me to a Post Office while Kiki and Aya were smoking XD

I wanted to send a letter with Easter presents to my friend in Nara and also buy some stamps for postcards (so maybe I don't send them on the last day of my stay *lol*).

Back then the bus was just ready to depart. It was such a cute bus, so small XD It has got half the length of the buses I know. But it was nice to drive around a bit. The bus went through Ueno, behind the park we got off and went the rest way by food.

We passed by a temple of the Tokugawa shoguns, it was a quiet place because not many people know about it.

temple building

symbol of the Tokugawa family (at the front gate)

Atfer that we went to another place for Sakura watching, it was Kyojis secret tip: the Yanak cemetery. The street towards the cetery was already full of cherry trees and in between the graves were also some of them. I think it is really matching because Sakura is the symbol of evanescence. The place was quite empty, just a few people were walking there and some made hanami under the trees at the street. But I think it's kind of weird to make hanami on a cemetery...
Nevertheless the calm was nice to enjoy the Sakura.

street towards the cementery

Sakura on the cementery

Then we went through some streets in Yanaka where you could still see some old houses (from the edo epoque). It was really nice. But because the sun sets, it became quite cold, so we warmed up in old café. It was so cool; we went to the first floor which was laid out with tatami (strawmats) so we had to take of the shoes (that was quite good after the walking^^'). It was a great atmosphere there.

a pictures of us nicely taken by the (cute^.^) waitor

the café from outside

Everyone of us ordered Matcha Latte with a piece of Matcha chocolate cake. The set cost 800 円 which was okay as a set. And it was worth every Yen because it was the best Matcha Latte and best Matcha that we have ever eaten!!! *_*

Matcha Latte & Cake

After that we headed back to Ueno Station and parted from Kyoji. The day was really interesting (and also very funny for Aya and Kiki because of the jokes their made of me and Kyoji - withour him knowing of course^^').

Back at our station we just made a short stop at a family market to get some snacks for dinner. I bought a Kareman (Curry Nikuman/dumpling filled with meat), one dorayaki and some Matcha Cookies X3

Tomorrow we will meet Kaoru again and go shopping in Shibuya.

See ya^^