Today we had another long lie till ten ish and I woke up feeling a wee bit heady.. Thankfully as the day wore on this lifted and I started to feel almost back to normal. We started the day by heading to the Sensoji temple which isn't far from our hotel. This magnificent temple is one of the oldest and definitely the most colourful in Tokyo. On the way to the temple we passed through the Nakamise-dori which is a long street of shops selling everything, we passed by a chemist and bought some shampoo and conditioner and carried on.

Legend says that the temple was completed in 645 after two brothers fished a statue of Kannon (goddess of mercy) out of the Sumida river. It is a Buddhist temple and the temple and grounds are stunning... One of my faves in Tokyo so far. On entering you pass under the 'thunder gate' which is a big tractional Japanese structure which holds a large red lantern, leading up to gate and surrounding it are numerous little stalls selling various trinkets and sweets.

As we approached it was quite busy and you just have to follow the crowd through. Once you pass the gate you can see the large temple.. Although it is fundamentally the oldest temple in Japan, during World War Two it was heavily bombed and much of it rebuilt. In the grounds there is a tree that was also bombed and regrew afterwards and remains there to this day as a symbol of rebirth. On entering you pass by the Hozomon or 'Treasure House Gate' which provides the entrance to the complex. To the left is a large pagoda and further in is the shrine. It's a beautiful and peaceful place with people making wishes and saying prayers.

As we wandered around we enjoyed looking at the stunning temple itself as well as people watching... There were lots of young girls in kimonos and traditional dress while every second person had a pushchair in which sat a very over dressed dog, most of which were in more designer gear then I could afford in a lifetime. It's really bizarre... They treat them like children with pushchairs and clothes and they loved it when you gave their babies attention. After we took in the sights a bit more we went to see some of the stalls... One in particular caught our eye and our taste buds. I was particularly hungry as I hadn't eaten in 24hrs and what the elderly couple were making looked delicious. The husband made a sort of batter with leeks, onions, ginger and such thrown in and cooked it in a bun dish... Once this was completed the wife turned it over and piled in bacon and egg to create a type of omelette fritter. On serving she piled some wafer thin beef and mayonnaise on top... Was pretty nice and only £3.50 for two. We took them and our chopsticks and perched on a small wall and dug in... Yummy!

Afterwards we headed out of the complex and into the small streets surrounding the temple. There was queues outside nearly all the restaurants and people everywhere... On the street were numerous entertainers making balloon animals or performing a show and everyone seemed in good spirits. We enjoyed the attractions for a while before taking a stroll towards Ueno park.

The stroll took us down a long dori which was probably a couple of kilometres long before we hit upon the park. As soon as we entered all we could hear was jazz type music... On further inspection it turned out that behind a large crowd were several middle aged chaps playing music. There was a cello, a banjo, a saxophone, a clarinet and a guitar... Was really interesting. It sounded amazing so we sat and listened for a while before heading into the park further. As we progressed further we came across the Kiyomizu Kannondō, a beautiful temple on a slight hill that overlooks Ueno park. Inspired by the stunning Kiyomizu-dera in Kyoto, this temple was built in 1631 and miraculously survived the war and air raids... It is therefore one of the oldest temples in Tokyo.

The main image of worship in the Senju Kannon or 'thousand armed Goddess of mercy' although another goddess Kosedate Kannon or 'goddess of child rearing is also worshipped here. Many women who have trouble conceiving come here to offer prayers and in return hope for a baby, if successful they return with a doll as thanks and offer it to the shrine. Every year there is a ceremony to dispose of all the dolls that have accumulated. After looking at this temple we headed back in to the park.... At his point Steven randomly asked where the shampoo and conditioner was... It was ironically after he noted a couple of hardened travellers who had passed us. Anyway we realised promptly that we must have left them at the first temple when we sat and ate our brunch. He was proper miffed as they had cost a fiver so I suggested we took a stroll back... The temple was near the hotel and I was feeling a bit pooped anyway.

We took a walk back miles down the road and about twenty mins later came to the temple, now it was packed and we slowly followed the crowd in... There were people everywhere! We wandered in and as I thought there sat our little bag of smellies... Someone had kindly moved it to one of the sides. Steven was flabbergasted as he was convinced they would be gone, I had a bit more faith and thought they would be there although admittedly I thought someone would have handed them in and didn't relish the thought of trying to communicate our lost purchase in broken English.

By now Steven was happier... And hungrier so we headed to Yoshinoya a Japanese fast food chain that specialises in beef topped rice dishes. I wasn't very hungry so opted for a salad and some miso soup while Steven had a bowl of the beef topped rice. The food was actually delicious and very cheap at about £3.50 between us, it was served in mins and very fresh. We ate our food and sipped our free green tea before heading back to the hotel, on route we stopped at a supermarket and bought some bread, bananas and coffee.

We chilled in the room for a while and I updated the blog and rested with a cup Or two of coffee... We also nibbled a banana sandwich yummy!! At about seven thirty we headed out and caught the subway to Ginza as Steven wanted to see the place at night. We jumped onboard and about fifteen mins later we were in the centre of Ginza... It's like the fifth avenue of Tokyo. As you step out of the subway your surrounded by lights and huge shops, there was Gucci, Bvagari, Tiffany & Co and many more plus huge illuminated advertisements.

We went for a stroll and found ourselves wandering towards the Tokyo tower that was illuminating in the distance. This Eiffel Tower inspired structure looks very unattractive in the day painted orange and white (safety regulations apparently) but is completely transformed at night and looks a lot prettier. It looked relatively close so we strolled towards it... However we soon found ourselves wandering through some very dark and very quiet streets.

Its amazing how clean and tidy this place is and even when your walking alone in the dark at night... you feel safe. everywhere people just leave bikes standing, no chain or nothing... hundreds of them are scattered around the city. My friend left his bike outside our flat back home and it was gone in a matter of hours... We walked past several umbrellas drying outside houses or objects on door steps just sitting there, travelling has really opened my eyes to some of the trash that we put up with in the UK... Nothing is safe and everything has to be chained up... and still gets nicked! no one respects other people or their belongings, its really sad. Anyway we eventually came to the tower about half an hour later. After a few pics we decided to catch the subway back to Asakusa and grab a bite to eat.

We jumped on the subway and headed towards Minta before changing on to the Asakusa line and arrived home about thirty mins later... I was now ready for bed but the boys stomach was demanding a feed so we headed out in search of food. It was a little after ten pm so not many places were open so after a good fifteen minute walk we found ourselves at another Yoshinoya where we took a pew. Steven ordered a larger version of what he had for lunch and I ordered a small spicy curry which tasted just like my mums curry... Literally the same! It was homely, vegetarian and delicious, just what I needed. Steven munched his way through his dinner then we took a slow walk back to the hotel, where I had an amazing hot shower. I then feel in to bed and wrote today's blog while Steven snoozed next to me.