Boat cruise on the Sumida River.

Rainbow bridge

Keeping the bugs away…

300 Year old Pine tree

Fall is wedding season!

SHOPPING in the Ginza rea.

S

A rosé made of lipsticks

Great day was had by all!! Weather could not have been Better.

Tomorrow is yet another exciting day!!

 

Our morning started with a visit to the Tokyo WiFi Tower. It is 333 meters high and a little higher than the Eiffel tower. It was completed in 1958. The Emperor had it built after the war so people would look have to look up and not down. He had been in power for 30 years At that time, so they made it 300 + meters tall in his honour, but it could not be completed At first because there was a shortage of steel; it had all been Used for the war effort. They built the last part with 50% less steel and brought a tank over from the States which was melted down and Used to finish the last part!

Standing on the glass Floor!

A very modern Temple

From the tower,/we took out little red bus to the Seno-ji Temple and Shinto Shrine.

O.1% of the population are Christians.> Many are Shintu and Buddhist and the majoriteit are `free thinkers`. There are 20 `new relisigions (less than 100 years old).

There are no holidays related to religion. Christmas is a working day. They have 15 statutory holidays: Emperor`s Birthday,  Green day, Ocean Day, Mountain Day, Autumn + Spring division day, Labour Day, etc.

It is the Chrisantimum  Festival and lovely flowers 

We started our day At the Suntory Art Gallery, which was showing art in the style of Edo Rimpa. We were too early! What an amazing Group of women!

lovely architecture all around us.

It was lovely to see the beautiful Japanese art of the 1840 s.

we especially liked the Morning Glory panels.

After this Gallery, we went to…. You never Guess it…. The National Arts Gallery which had an exhibition on Salvator Dali.

The building Itself is beautiful !

Our beautiful youngest traveller, with 14 Mothers on board!

We had lunch on our own. Some of us had ramen At a bar and it was delicious!

Only way to eat the soup is to slurp it, as they do not give you a spoon.

Food is wrapped in plastic.

 

Lovely architecture everywhere! The city is very clean.

 

OK, had to take a Photo of the toilet. Toto toilets are mini bidets and they have heated seats and even play music to hide your noise! LOL

 

Lots of bikes everywhere too. Just like in Holland

 

What are these?

A typical touris shop

 

 

Lovely sukuyaki dinner in a private dining room. It was delicious!

Japan has 127 Million inhabitants of which 13 MM live in Tokyo, which is its night time population. During a working day it reached 36 MM people, so it is very crowded. The population has not changed since 2009.

Japan is the Size of California : 70% is mountains, 5% lakes and rivers and 25% they all live in.

There are 48,000 persons over the age of 100, and 30,000 women @ average age 86 and 18,000 men aged avg. 81.

 

 

Here we are in the beautiful Moroccan city of Fes!

We walked for 10,000 steps, according to one of our ladies, as we did a walking tour of the old Medina in Fes to enjoy its beautiful and colourful tiled mosques with intricately carved stucco walls, arches and cornices. We stopped at the Royal Palace as well. Following a delicious lunch in a restaurant with lovely architecture, we visited a tannery and shopped for the best and softest leather in Morocco, followed by a stop at a ceramics factory where we watched the ceramic artists at work and shopped for dozens of beautifully designed pieces available for sale.

Free afternoon to enjoy a fantastic hammam (Moroccan spa) experience!

Good/morning Tokyo!

There was an Earthquakes Here in Japan last night but it was 700 Kms west of Tokyo and we are all fine Here. Cloudy today and maybe some rain tonight but sun in the forecast for tomorrow!

Saturday, Oct. 22: Tokyo We’ll plunge into Tokyo today, visiting the highlights in midtown. The kaleidoscope of images is breathtaking. Many of Tokyo’s neon-lit streets look like a science- ction lm set; there are mega-malls, edgy boutiques and skyscrapers designed by award-winning architects.

In the middle of all that modernity, there are still traces of the city of the shoguns in back streets and wooden buildings. We’ll get an overview of the city with our guide today.

 Vino is excited to be traveling to  Japan !!!  Our first delicious dinnerpizza with tiny little fishes

 

We arrived safely! After an almost 13 hour flight, we arrived safely in Japan! We took a long bus ride (1 1/2 Hours)  to the hotel Otani./Huge hotel with over 400 rooms. We dropped our luggage and walked to the restaurant.  I think we were the only women there> it was filled with the stressed out after work crowd; drinking whiskey. We had a delicious Japanese style meal with sashimi, edamame, tuna, pizza with tiny little fish, and also fish and chips and green tea jelly for dessert.

 

]We have arrived in Casablanca! At the airport, we are met by our lovely guide, Khaleda. Following a 4 hour drive to Fes, the very tired travellers enjoyed a wonderful 4 course dinner at the beautiful hotel, the Riad Maison Bleue, which had been a palace in past centuries. Off to bed for a much needed sleep!