Visitors Walk in the Rain, Tokyo

French travelers walk through Tokyo’s Ueno Park on a rainy day.

My first day in Tokyo had consisted of disembarking from my very red-eye flight at about 7:30 in the morning, making my way from the airport to the city, and then wandering around the neighborhood of my hotel a bit bleary eyed until 2:50 in the afternoon at which time I passed the hotel’s check-in goal post. Since check-in time was 3pm, I guess the hotel had cut me some slack after all, though you will have to pardon me for not being particularly grateful. Whatever, within moments of entering my room, I lay down for a much needed nap.

I woke up to find my stomach growling, but before setting off to look for dinner, I stopped to explore my room, a fast journey indeed. On the hotel’s booking page, Agoda listed the room size at 11.5 sq meters. That’s roughly 125 sq feet for those who are still wedded to inches, feet, and miles. In a word: small. As one entered the room, there was a hallway on the left and the door to a very efficiently organized bathroom on the right. The room then “opened up” to a single bed on the right and on the left a narrow desk/counter complete with flat screen TV, a refrigerator underneath and other amenities one expects to find in a good quality budget hotel room. The bed and the desk were divided by a rather narrow walkway. Though a little soft for my taste, the bed was comfortable and plenty roomy enough, even for my rather too abundant physique. I put my luggage on the floor at the far end of the room where there was a window. Years of living in crowded China taught me to travel light; today my travel gear consists of a single, small carry-on bag, and a small back pack, even when I go on longer trips. For those of you who can’t take even a one week journey without an enormous suitcase, budget hotels in Japanese cities are probably not for you. Everything in the room was spotlessly clean, and as I would learn during the days that followed, housekeeping was capable and meticulous. For the record, despite being annoyed at the long wait to check-in (3pm was check-in time for all of the hotels I considered in Japan), I was very satisfied with the New Ueno Hotel——friendly, efficient, clean, and quiet, all in a great location.

I had delicious grilled eel for dinner.

The next day (9 Oct) I was awake early. I am always awake early these days——I suppose one of the dubious perks of being a senior citizen. It was cloudy and the small street behind the hotel was wet, but there was a man walking along the street without an umbrella. Encouraged, I put my camera in the back pack and took off for more exploration. When I got downstairs to leave the hotel, I realized that the man I had seen with no umbrella was either eccentric or looking for a place to buy an umbrella to replace the one he had misplaced. It was not raining hard, but I needed to open my umbrella as I struck out walking in the direction of Ueno Park.

I entered the park and stood under a canopy created by huge trees lining the park paths. Wet but beautiful. Suddenly, the steady but light rain gave way to an absolute downpour. I beat a hasty retreat to Ueno Station where I sought out coffee and a chance to get upset reading news from the United States on my phone. A while later, full of caffeine and bile, I found the rain had subsided and I set out again. Even on a wet somewhat gloomy morning, Ueno Park is beautiful.

Kiyomizu Kannon-dō Temple in Ueno Park

As the rain gave no indication of stopping, nor did the day give any indication of clearing up, I decided this would be an ideal time to visit the Tokyo National Museum, one of several museums in Ueno Park. The flaw in this plan became more apparent as the path towards the museum became more and more crowded the closer I got to my destination. Not surprisingly, plenty of other people shared my idea. Not in the mood for a very crowded museum visit, it seemed time to end my walk and find a quiet, dry place to consider what I would do later in the day.

Small Boat, Placid Water, Hoi An

For those of you familiar with Hoi An, I am in the Cam An area looking north. The bridge is Hai Ba Trung road; the beach highway to Da Nang is to the right and downtown and Hoi An Old Town are to the left.

I am not sure what kind of fishing this boat is used for. It probably stays close to the coast, and may never get out of the estuary where it is resting in this photo. It’s rigged with at least one light, which suggests it is out at night.

The Bridge of Sighs, Venice

Ponte dei Sospiri or the Bridge of Sighs spans the Rio Del Palazzo, which runs along the side of the Doge’s Palace and St. Mark’s Square. After appearing in court in the Doge’s Palace, convicted prisoners were taken across this bridge to a prison on the other side. As they got their last view of beautiful Venice crossing the bridge, prisoners were known to sigh; hence the name of the bridge. Or so the story goes.

The High Line, New York City

A friend spoke highly of the High Line, and I decided walking the trail would be a good way to spend a morning in Manhattan before heading to Baltimore by train in the afternoon. It was a beautiful walk on an end-of-summer day – quiet in a city not noted for quiet, secluded in parts, with views of the Hudson River and Chelsea in other parts. Very pleasant, very relaxing. The southern end of the trail is next to the Whitney Museum – if you have the time (alas, I did not), you can combine the High Line with a visit to the museum.

From Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Line): The High Line is a 1.45-mile-long (2.33 km) elevated linear park, greenway and rail trail created on a former New York Central Railroad spur on the west side of Manhattan in New York City. … The abandoned spur has been redesigned as a “living system” drawing from multiple disciplines which include landscape architecture, urban design, and ecology. The High Line was inspired by the 4.7 km (2.9 mi) long Promenade plantée (tree-lined walkway), a similar project in Paris completed in 1993.

Warmth of the Sun, Amherst

I shot this picture as the sun broke through the clouds to bath the field and trees in weak late afternoon sunlight. The horse and pasture in yesterday’s post are just to the left of this scene. Both shots were taken from the backyard of my friend Kate’s home in Amherst. Kate chose the quiet beauty of this locale to settle in after her years in China. The welcome contrast between the tranquility of this Pioneer Valley landscape and the stress, congestion, noise and politics not of the good kind we both experienced living in Beijing could not be more stark.

This photo was taken in mid-September just as the trees in central Massachusetts were beginning to turn color. I was not able to organize my trip to arrive when the autumn colors were peaking. No complaint, just an observation. The fact is I love visiting this part of New England at any time of the year.