Day 2 - Meiji Shrine, Harajuku and Shibuya

On our second day, we walked from our hotel down to Yoyogi Park to see the Meiji Shrine. These are offerings of sake to the late emperor and his wife outside of the shrine. As we were walking around Shibuya, we were getting a bit tired, so we headed into the nearest arcade to wake up. The noise and chaos in any arcade, any day, at any time are enough to wrench the jet lag out of you.

We've become obsessed with this drumming game, and playing the claw-game to win a Nyampire doll (so far no luck with that one).

We also went through the Shibuya crossing multiple times during the day.

More Shinjuku

While wandering through Shinjuku on our first full day, we found ourselves in Shinjuku Central Park where we visited our first shrine - the Kumano-jinja Shrine. We also happened upon the Christon Cafe - a Christian themed bar/restaurant where I had a fruity drink called the Deathscythe. For dinner, we attempted to find a soba restaurant recommended in our guidebook, but failed in that attempt (since we didn't realize the restaurant was on the 2nd floor), but ended up in a yakitori stall down an alley just north of Shinjuku station (according to our guidebook, the area is sometimes referred to as "piss alley", from the time before there was a public bathroom down there). We pretty much ate everything they offered, including chicken skin, gizzards, kidneys. We also met some sweet girls from Nagoya who asked to have their picture taken with us, and drank several glasses of shochu with an Englishman living in New Zealand.

Shinjuku

On our first full day in Tokyo we wandered around Shinjuku, which is where we've been staying. This is a view of Shinjuku from the 26th floor of the L Building. Why were we up there you ask? Because we wanted to visit the Toto design show room (where most of the fancy toilets in Japan come from). Here Leo contemplates how he can bring one of these toilets back to the states. They are quite remarkable, with seat warmers, bidets, blow dryers, music, etc.

On the way to Tokyo

We are now in Tokyo, taking our last big trip before moving back to New York. I'll try to post a few pictures a day of interesting things we do.This a the bento box we got on the plane on the way over from London. There was a western option as well, but Leo and I opted for the Japanese meal. It was really very good and I think everyone else in our section was jealous they hadn't ordered it.

The 12 hour flight was not as bad as we had anticipated and though we've been a bit tired for the last few days, I think we've handled the jet lag well. The tiredness could very well be from walking around for up to 9 hours a day.

Rhodes

Our final island was Rhodes and we stayed in a nice pension in the walled medieval city. We spent one day at a lovely rocky beach outside of the old city. We found a fantastic seafood restaurant called Mikes and we went there 3 times during our 5 days in Rhodes. We also happened upon a synagogue in the old city, which is one of the oldest in Europe.

Kos

From Chios, we took a 6 hour ferry to Kos, which actually was pretty enjoyable. We sat up on the deck and played cards most of the time, and I had a wonderful octopus stew for lunch. We chose Kos as our next destination since we all had flights out of Rhodes and it was one of the connecting islands. We thought it would just be a nice place with great beaches, and were pleasantly surprised to also find that it had great archaeological sites, including the ancient Asklepion. Next to our hotel was a great taverna where we tested out Greek-style pizza (actually rather tasty). We took a bus one day to the other side of the island to Bubble beach, named that since if you moved your hands quickly in the water it formed tiny bubbles and felt like being in a jacuzzi. Kos is also rather close to Turkey, and we decided to take a day trip to Bodrum to visit the underwater archaeological museum which is housed in the Castle of St. Peter. We also had an amazing meal of grilled snapper, of course with plenty of raki (like Greek ouzo but not as sweet).

Chios

The first Greek island we hit was Chios. We went mainly because it was one of the easiest islands to access from Turkey, but there was really a lot to see there and it ended up being our favorite island during the trip.

On our first day, we decided to relax a bit on the beach. We then decided to rent a car, since the island is one of the larger Greek islands. There were many ruins to see, as well as interesting medieval villages (this is Pyrgi, where all of the homes are decorated with geometrical designs called 'xysta') and wild-ish life, like these goats.

More Istanbul and on the way to Greece

While we were in Istanbul, we were thrilled with how much street food there was available. This was a fish sandwich we got for breakfast one morning right by the ferry terminal. They claimed the fish came from the Bosphorous, though we were told later that it actually is shipped in from Norway.

When we were in Istanbul, it was the end of Ramadan, so the city was packed with Turkish tourists. This is a tunnel we went through to get to the ferries. We were packed liked sardines and walking at a snail's pace through this see of people.

In order to jump off to the Greek islands, we first took a very early morning ferry from Istanbul to Bandirma. This is Leo and John in the Bandirma train station having some tea. We were supposed to take the train to Izmir, but it stopped outside the city and we had to pile into buses to get to Izmir. From there we got a good deal to take a taxi to Cesme, where we spent the night and got on another early morning ferry to the Greek island of Chios.

The long awaited holiday photos

We started our trip in Istanbul, where we stayed with a old college friend "The Turk." We visited the Topkapi palace and went on a tour of the harem, which was beautifully decorated. We sampled some Turkish sweets. Visited the Basilica Cistern, Hagia Sophia
and the Blue Mosque.

Big News - expensive and cold no more

I know that I owe you some photos of our recent trip to Turkey and Greece, but I've been a bit distracted since we've recently found out we'll be moving back to the US. As our flat gets colder and colder each day and the sun is coming out less frequently, I'm quite happy to be heading back to the US. Though I'll miss the friends I've made and all of the travelling we've been able to do while living here, it will be nice to move back to New York...land of the perfect pizza, shops open on Sunday, and sushi delivery until 3 in the morning.

Speaking of sushi, before heading home, we're spending a month in Japan. I'm amazingly excited!