Today was full of impromptu events and wading into unchartered territory. And department stores (see teenage son traveller page for details)! But first, pictures!
Imperial palace grounds. Lots of pebbles there, too. And glorious architecture. And trees. I got to pat a dog (for those who know me, that’s always a big deal). A cute caramel-coloured, 5 month old toy poodle named Kuko (pretty sure it was that).
Don’t know what these are, but when I spotted that bush of lovelies, I turned to son and said “photo…must take photo…photooooo”. He just rolled his eyes and obliged. He’s a good photographer!
We were walking around our neighbourhood when he happened on this gem, Heian-jingu. Wow. I think it’s the one in the movie Lost in Translation. Not sure. Either way, it was beautiful and deserted for a good 15 minutes before the buses disgorged hordes of tourists into the place. We left with great pictures and a dozen pebbles in our sandals.
Got stuck on a deserted subway wagon. There was an announcement, but not being speakers of Japanese, we didn’t get what they said. It probably went like this “please disembark now as this train is about to be parked in a darkened tunnel and only fools would spend 5 minutes in a darkened wagon wondering what the HELL IS GOING ON!!!!” Luckily, the conductor spotted us and came over, all smiles, to tell us he was going to reverse the train and drop us off at the previous station. I wanted to kiss his feet.
Fuel that comes from the sky, man. From the sky.
One Bag Each 
You two are hilarious – staying on a train until the end of the route. Did you not figure something was up when you were the only ones left? I would have panicked as I am thinking you might have been starting to. The funnies are most amusing teenage son traveller.
We didn’t figure it out until the lights went out. We were just so happy to have room to sit for a change. Plenty of room. Lots and lots of room. 😉