Tokyo--Sunday

Met Sharla and Will at 7:30 for breakfast. The Wallace's (Sharla and Will stay another night) checked out and had the hotel hold our luggage. We left to go to Yoyogi Park. On the train we started talking to two guys. One from New York and the other from Australia. As we were talking the one guy said "yeah, we sat behind you guys at the Sumo tournament and then we saw you at the restaurant." They told Cameron he did a good job posing in the ring. Sharla and I started laughing because they remembered us. What are the chances of running into random strangers two days in a row in a place so big?

Riding on the train...again.

Tiny bruise on Cameron's arm that Sharla gave him.
 

Will was a tired boy.

Cameron snuck next to him and took a picture.
Too funny.

We arrived at the area where the park was. Got off and walked to what we thought was Yoyogi Park. Todd got a map and we headed in. This place was neat. Nice path and pleasant. Sharla was on a mission to find the tandem bikes. She asked several people and no one new what she was talking about. This park was also suppose to have entertainment. We continued walking and Todd and Will stopped to look at the map. They finally realized the map was upside down. It still didn't help us find anything we wanted. Sharla asked a girl working in the garden about entertainment and she sent us down the opposite way we were going. We ended up at another entrance to this park. We were all confused. I had a piece of paper in my pocket that had the parks name written in Japanese so I went and showed it to a guard. He pointed for us to keep walking the way we were then turn right.

We saw this tiny little door while walking down the street.

This says it's Yoyogi Park.

A pretty entrance.

Checking out the map.

Lovely.

Sake story.

A lot of barrels of Sake.

We found another park and it was the real Yoyogi. No wonder the other one didn't have anything it was suppose to have. Sharla asked a guy where the bikes were and he explained it to us. We started walking but realized this was a big park. Hot and sweaty we finally found the bikes. They had a machine you had to put money into to rent a bike. You then take the ticket to a guy and you get a bike. Sharla and Will, and Todd and I were on tandem bikes. Cameron had his own. Tandem bikes could only do one lap (15 minutes) then it had to be returned. We paid for an extra lap. Cameron could have his bike for an hour. After the first lap Cameron switched so him and I were on the tandem bike. It was pretty fun but it only made us hotter. Grabbed a pop, water, and ice cream treats.

Walking into the park.

One of the views.

Bicycle vending machine.

Cameron is ready to go for a bike ride.

Todd and I.  This should be interesting.

This man was playing a flute.

Luckily we didn't crash.

Cameron and I.  He was a wiggle worm and I'm shocked we didn't crash.

Pretty.

We then walked around trying to get out of the park. Finally on the road. Kept walking to find the train station. Todd was using his gps on his phone. We walked forever. We were all sweating. We were in an area that was very quiet. Hardly any people around. It was nice. Finally came to the train station. Sharla and Will wanted to go back and explore a little section we passed and we wanted to try a hamburger joint by the train station by our hotel. We decided to go our separate ways. We said our goodbyes and we jumped on the train.

Off the train at the other side and we went to Beat Burgers--the hamburger joint. Todd got a burger with bacon and asparagus. Cameron got a pineapple burger again. I had a BBQ bacon cheeseburger. They were really good. Walked back to the hotel. We were an hour and a half early for our shuttle bus to the airport so we were discussing what we were going to do. As we got to the hotel the shuttle pulled in. Todd rushed inside to see if we could get on the earlier one. They said we could. We quickly went to the bathroom and got our luggage. Jumped on the bus and took the hour ride to the airport. Sweet. We will be early but we would rather hang out at the airport than the hotel lobby.

Ready to try out the pineapple burger.

Todd put his hamburger in the paper holder they passed out.

Is Cameron's name on the sign?

Reading on the way to the airport.

At the airport we went to the lounge for 4 hours to wait to board. A few snacks, little DS action, little work, little blog work, and we were off. During the flight the pilot came on and made an announcement about seat belts. He said as we get closer to Seoul, Korea we will encounter some weather and rough air since the typhoon is approaching that area. Luckily it wasn't bad at all. Landed with no problems in Beijing. Found Mr. Xue and started towards TEDA. Cameron was asleep after 10 minutes. I would have been too except for the traffic. For about the first 30 minutes there were so many trucks on the road. It was 2 lanes and just on the gas, on the brakes, on the gas, on the brakes...stressful. Finally arrived at the apartment just before midnight. Quick showers and off to bed.

Watching Sumo right before we got on the plane.
Cameron was mid yawn.

Cameron fell asleep with about 5 minutes before landing.

 Sound asleep in the van on the way home.

Tokyo was a nice break from TEDA.  It was clean, the people are very nice and courteous, and more like America.  It is expensive though.  Overall, a great vacation.