Beautiful Odaiba

I half-awoke to the sound of someone rustling around and moving in and out of and around the room - Kenga had to work on Saturday, so Rosa and I were left to sleep in - which was wonderful. We had to hang around his place for a while anyways - someone was coming to check the gas lines and we were letting him in. We chose not to set an alarm, because we figured that we would be up bright and early - since we are both used to waking up for work. The next time I awoke, however, it was to a 'ding ding'! Rosa and I both bolted out of bed, and I ran to the door - it was 10am!! and the gas man had arrived. Once he did his thing and we showered, etc, we took off for the train station to meet Keith at Shimbashi Station. From Shimbashi, we took the same beautiful train ride I had taken the day before, to the Odaiba area. When we got off, I spotted a fun-looking spiral thing, and had to get a picture - Keith and Rosa thought I was pretty strange, but I thought it was neat! There were also some colored archways that warranted a couple pictures!




From the archways, we wandered down to the waterfront. It was a chilly day and a bit windy, but the sky was clear and it was bright and sunny. I didn't realize how much I missed both the sunshine, the beach, and the water until I was standing on the walkway, feeling completely content and thoroughly happy! We took pictures in front of the Rainbow bridge, and walked along the wooden walkway following the shoreline. It was incredible to have the beautiful ocean on one side, and the tall architecture and buildings of Odaiba on the other. The building with the big round part is the Fuji TV Building...it's the headquarters of Fuji TV, one of Japan's largest nationwide TV stations.





Near the end of the walkway was a Statue of Liberty! I'm not a big history buff, but I did ponder, for a couple minutes, how much history there was behind the Statue, and how deep a meaning it really holds (I know, I know - sappy moment). Keith (brilliant man) carries a Canadian flag around with him - so we had to incorporate that into the photos! My first visit to a Statue of Liberty - in Tokyo!



We left the shoreline (much as I hated to leave it, I was excited to see the rest of Odaiba!), and headed back towards the shopping and tourist areas. We visited a Aquacity (a mall), then made our way to Palatte Town - Palatte town consists of several things. Our first stop (after some pictures of the Teleport bridge) was VenusPort. I knew it was a shopping mall, but I thought that was all it was - I was so wrong! VenusPort is a shopping mall fashioned after Venice - and it was gorgeous! The architecture and decorations were breathtaking.

I could have spent forever in there, wandering around. The ceiling was sky-blue, and you could almost imagine you were actually in Venice. There was a beautiful fountain with angels, lace and flowers, and incredible structures. There was also the Happy Flower Chair, with a sign that promised if you "Sit in this chair and enjoy taking pictures - you will be surrounded by happiness!". After a minute of relaxing and some photos in the Happy Chair, I did indeed feel very happy.



After I purchased an awesome hat, and Rosa bought a jacket, we found ourselves in the History Museum - of cars! There were old cars, neat cars, cars from movies. It was neat to see!
After the History Museum and a little bit more of VenusPort, we went back outside and across the veranda to MegaWeb - a Toyota showroom. We also went on the ride they had, which was a Daytona-style race with moving seats - it was pretty fun for a short (& free!) ride!



After a brief look around MegaWeb, it was getting late and we wanted to take the SeaBus back, instead of the Train. We arrived just in time and bought our tickets and got right on the boat. The sun was going down and it was a beautiful ride back to Hinode. We passed under the Rainbow Bridge and waved goodbye to Odaiba as it faded into the distance.



There are many more pictures from these adventures - you can find them at ...
Shibuya - http://ubc.facebook.com/album.php?aid=17072&l=4fbbe&id=514822879
Odaiba - http://ubc.facebook.com/album.php?aid=17074&l=a35a5&id=514822879