First off, I want to start by apologising for how long it’s been since I’ve updated my blog. I’ve been sick, life has been busy and this means I have loads to post about and all in this short space of time where I have the energy. Please bear with me and I hope you enjoy the updates regardless. In terms of timeframe, this first post comes right at the start fo April, so please forget that it’s basically October and cast your minds back to springtime vibes as you read this.
It’s becoming a bit of a pattern lately that, as soon as the cherry blossoms start to bud in Tokyo, the rain comes heavily and washes them all away. So, when my sister (Ellen) said she and my brother-in-law (Michael) were coming to Japan at the start of April, I definitely did not think we’d get to see any blooms together. However, we stayed hopeful and, as the cooler weather stretched out into March, the blooming dates were pushed and we got super lucky that Ueno was basically towards the tail-end of the peak blooms when Ellen and Michael arrived.
However, these blooms did mean they didn’t get the chilled-out first couple of days in Tokyo like I originally planned. Despite all the trains we caught, we still did a lot of walking (what was it Ellen, over 25,000 steps a day for those first days?) and we were hoping to get home early those evenings, as we were going away for a big, well-packed holiday after Tokyo. Alas, it was not meant to be. In the first few days we managed to fit in: Skytree, shopping in Oshiage, Sensoji, Ueno park sakura (in the day and the night time illuminations), Meiji Jingu, shopping in Harajuku and Shibuya, Shibuya crossing, Shinjuku game centre & cafe time (big love to ‘marbre’ for accommodating all our allergies and allowing us to have our first meal together) and a gyoza-making evening in our apartment (which Michael actually rocked – you sure it was your first time bro?!). I’m definitely not complaining though, to get to show them the glimpses of Tokyo they’d only seen on screens, our beloved home/local area and then to see the cherry blossom with my sister for the first time was an experience I could only have hoped for in multiple lifetimes. I felt truly blessed.
This was the start of a lot of traveling, and we have done quite a bit since April too. As I have a lot to get caught up on, there will be a blog every day being released for the next few weeks. Some will be longer than this, with stories and whatnot, others will be short and sweet, focusing mainly on photos. I hope you enjoy the variety and you can bear with me while I get my blog up to date with all we’ve been doing!
