That means we're on our last leg here for the trip sadly. We took the Shinkansen out of Kobe. The trip took about 2.5 hours. We tried the green car this time. Its a little more expensive because the seats are nicer and you can get food/drink as well as attendees who collect trash. In the end not worth it. The seat wound up feeling narrower as your can't lift the middle armrest. The food options were small, we got a cheese and sausage snack pack.
Japan got us again. We got the pack and the 2 types of cheese were parmesian with layers of cod on the outside and camembert also with cod layers. You couldn't see that in the pic. They were fine-ish with the cod but we learned you could peel it off and they were better. Also the parm and camembert tasted basically the same. But not a land known for its cheese.
Our transfer after the shinkansen was delayed due to someone... dying on the train tracks. Not our station but that line. Accident or not accident, grizzly.
We then taxid the rest of the way. Park Hyatt Kyoto was a fancy hotel and so is the Andaz Tokyo (also in Hyatt family) in some different ways. They room is big for Tokyo, especially considering our first hotel. We're on the 47th floor of the Toranomon Hills Tower with a huge window view north into the city. Tokyo Skytree and Imperial Palace/Gardens are clearly visible and we could spend a lot of time staring out at it. But that time will have to be split with the massive tub in here.
We did have to leave quickly after getting here though. We had to get out to Mitaka for the Ghibli Museum. I'd also gone years ago and similarly, cant take pictures inside to share. Our timeslot at 4 gave us just 2 hours to when they close, but that was enough time.
When you get inside they give you a movie cell which doubles as a ticket to see an animated feature they only show at the museum.
The animation was an adorable one. Boro the Caterpillar is 15 minutes about a caterpillar who comes out of his egg and slowly starts to experience the world. The only audio is done by human voice into mic, which was pretty cool. He learns what other caterpillars eat, and predators, and eventually gets himself inside a delicious dandelion flower. Hard to describe but it was a lot of fun.
We got a pair of pins from the shop and then realize we hadn't eaten anything otherthan bread at breakfast time and the fish cheese...
The line for food had died down at the Ghibli Cafe so we got a hotdog and chicken straps, which were really good!
The museum had a special exhibit for The Boy and the Heron which won the academy award for best animated film and which Sarah and I both saw and kind of hated it. Without spoilers our issue is summed up by:
It's a fantasy world without discernable rules. That makes it like someone telling you a dream for 2 hours where stuff happens and has no point.
But, the movie was still beautiful and the exhibit was paintings used in the animation in one way or form. For instance some were used as background that would pan and have layers above it like clouds. Others may have been used as design pieces for other animators to pick up and use as reference. Very neat.
The rest of the museum is fairly small. There's a room displaying sort of a history of animation through flipping images and light tricks. Basically to show kids how our eyes perceive still images as moving and the tricks used to do that.
Another section shows replicas of artist rooms with inspiration books and sketches used for movies that's supposed to feel like your in their workspaces. And it does seem that way.
We left a few minutes before close and made our way back. Travelling is tiring work and the one meal was starting to wear off. When we got back to the hotel building we checked for food. 1st floor had Bebu Burger: American Soulfood. We needed our souls back so we ordered some to go. When we got up to the hotel lobby (above us on the 50th floor) they were doing their daily snack and drink lounge. So we got some wine and a latte and ate some snacks to prep for the burgers we were going to eat soon.
Tasty snacks, solid burgers and very good wedge fries, which we both feel usually aren't amazing but these were great.
Our sumo tickets were delivered to the hotel by the site we ordered them from. Great service buysumotickets.com. We'll be going there sometime tomorrow and we have to check the stats from yesterday. We didn't catch up on the last 2 days now.
No comments:
Post a Comment