Since the emperor and empress do live at the Imperial Palace, visits there don’t include tours inside. But, the people watching is always fun and, we were at the right place at the right time. As I stood with lots of school kids and tourists, taking my photos of the pristine palace and grounds, I noticed riders on horseback and a carriage crossing the moat on the bridge in the distance.
Sure enough, an entourage approached near enough I was able to capture the friendly people inside the carriage waving as they rode by – who, we found out, were the Australian ambassador and his wife.
There is no shortage of gardens and the Hamarikyu gardens were next on our agenda. These were the playground for shoguns (including duck hunting) that were eventually turned over to public.
Finally, no visit to Tokyo should skip the Ginza – the VERY high end shopping area. We were given about a half hour to ogle – since we’re not shoppers, we opted to take the tour bus back after a quick walk through one of the major department stores (Ginza 6) although we could have stayed for the afternoon.
