Wanting to get in the mood for a little temple visiting ahead of the next leg of the tour in Kyoto, we headed out to Sensoji temple in Asakusa, the oldest Buddhist temple in Tokyo. We joined the other 30 million visitors (annual, but seemed like they had all turned up the same day as us), and walked through an avenue of stalls selling lots of souvenirs. Bert bought a fetching fan…
Just before we went into the temple, we had our fortunes told – which involved shaking a bucket and making a wish, and then a stick fell out with a number on it. Locating the draw with the same number produced a fortune sheet. Bert went first and got the best fortune. I followed and got an average fortune (as did Husband) but poor old Bell got bad fortune. I don’t believe any of it as I am clearly the most fortunate in the world!
A shaved ice was next on the itinerary but I passed, although the colour was intriguing…
And a few steps further was an ice cream stand with so many flavours I wanted to try, it was hard to choose. I went for sake and chai-tea, Husband went for sweet potato and red bean. I think I had the edge – but check out these flavours – tofu, sesame, roasted tea, green soya bean….
Temple done and time for lunch. Bell found an even better place than Zen in Shimokitazawa called Chabuton – it was fab – best vegetarian meal ramen and vegetarian dumplings. It was a little complicated as you had to buy a ticket first but everything came out Millhouse in the end.
A brief visit to book store – and we jumped on the train back to Shibuya for some more worshipping at the retail temple. Husband bought another pair of trainers…
And so we headed out for family gala dinner in Ebisu – 11 of us! Yuko had chosen a great place and the food just kept on coming. I didn’t take many photos as I probably had too much beer and plum wine – my second best favourite tipple after sherry.
It was a really special evening and we made our way home for a final sleep in Tokyo.
Snoo's kitchen 