Day 5 : BLOX Fun Times In Edinburgh

Before we launch into today’s episode – note that I have updated “Day 3” with pictures and video as promised, and we also have a new poll for you to have your say on J

Finally, we have found the solution to the unusual building in Tokyo... read about it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asahi_Beer_Hall

Right – today is the story of Berian (our host and guide in Edinburgh), Leela (the reason we sat at Edinburgh Airport for 2 hours last night after arriving), Owen (who you all know by now) and Xavier (the hero of our story) exploring Edinburgh.

In the morning, we jumped on a bus and headed to the Royal Mile – the main roads through Edinburgh’s Old Town from Edinburgh Castle (pictured) to Hollyrood Abbey. Starting at the Castle end, we walked along the road, checking out all fabulous things along the way including a Tartan Weaving Mill, an historic church, and an old man who was supposed to be collecting money for a charity but seemed more interested in bailing up passers-by to regale them with his old war stories.

We didn’t get all the way to the other end of the mile before turning off to cross into the New Town via “Jacob’s Ladder” (which was actually a staircase – yes, possibly to heaven). In the New Town we decided to reinstitute to coin-tossing-walking-tour procedure that had worked so well for us in Japan. After a bit of cheating, we ended up at the Scott Memorial – a monument in honour of famous historic novelist and poet, Walter Scott. It cost us 3 pounds each for entry, which allowed you to climb to the top and enjoy the view. The view was fine, but not really worth 3 pounds – however, the experience of the climb more than made up for it!

There were 4 stages in getting to the top – each involved ascending a tight, spiral stone staircase (containing a total of 287 stairs). The staircases were narrow enough that whenever you encountered someone coming the other way (i.e. down), it required both people to slide past each other side on. We eventually learned to call a warning into the stairwell before starting off to warn people at the other end not to start coming the other way!

We then had a warning from one lady on her way down that it got worse near the top. We didn’t believe her. We should have. As we approached the very top of the monument, the staircase became narrower... and narrower... and narrower. The final half a dozen steps would probably have prevented some people from reaching the top at all. Even Xavier standing on these steps found himself with shoulders firmly wedged against either side.

After sitting around back at Berian’s apartment solving some levels of ‘Braid’ (a computer game he told us we really really should have a go at), we headed out again to walk to the top of Arthur’s Seat (pictured) for a lovely views of the city, and went past the ‘distinctive’ (i.e. ugly) Scottish Parliament Building.

So plenty of sightseeing, and less of the amusing stories today. And now everyone seems to be stupidly tired, and is getting ready for bed...

Day 4 : Tokyo to Edinburgh

Nothing exciting to report today. We sat on a train, sat at an airport, sat on a plane, sat in a different airport, sat on another plane, then met Berian (and sat around for 2 hours) at yet another airport.

Oh, and after losing Vegemite, toothpaste and sunscreen to the security people in Sydney, Owen today had his insect repellent taken when checking in at Tokyo.

So here’s some facts and figures

• · We did go to Kiddy Land
• · We did not go to Condomania
• · We did go to Mister Donut
• · We did not do karaoke
• · We did go to the 100-yen (+5% tax) shop
• · We did not go to Mos Burger
• · We did have crepes
• · I did “doozo” someone (at the 100-yen shop)

A 2-3 minute phone call to Berian on my mobile phone while waiting at Heathrow cost $8.91

We would also like to report that so far on the trip we have spent a total of 36:40 hours waiting (including travelling). And a total of 24:30 hours sleeping. Here’s hoping that ratio of waiting:waking-hours improves for the rest of the trip!!!

Day 3 ：Tokyo

We began the day by introducing Owen to the joys of the Japanese convenience store - with their pre-packaged sandwiches, hot dogs and pastries. The standard place for breakfast for us travellers to Japan.

We were disappointed with the lack of choc-coated-bananas-on-sticks at the Sensoji Temple, but highly excited about the machines which were making Manjuu in front of our eyes. So excited that Owen purchased a few without being quite sure what they were.

From the temple we jumped on the subway to head to the good part of Tokyo... the part where Kiddy Land is :)
We spent a solid 2 hours investigating all 6 floors of Good Times it had to offer, and Xavier came out with about 10 quality items. We had crepes (or waffles, if you're Kate), as promised - but only one each. We had ball-bearing-ice-cream from Kiddy Land for dessert (photo again to come later!).

Then there was the mall next to the waffle/crepe place. Last time I was there, I remember it being a fairly standard sort of mall - perhaps with a few whacky characters inhabiting it (mainly whacky in their choice of outfit) - but this time, it was half-a-dozen floors of chaos! There seemed to be some kind of mall-wide mega-sale. Every shop had at least one loud, crazy, highly excited person outside of it, usually holding some kind of sign, often with a cardboard megaphone. Most shops had more than one of these people. I'm not sure how else to describe it other than "mayhem". See the video at the end of the post (not sure how well it captures what it was truly like, but it's the best we've got!)

After that experience, we headed to the temple at Meiji-Jingu for a stroll through the park - a bit of peace and quiet. And quality shade. We made our way through the gardens using a coin which determined which way to turn at each intersection in the paths. We were highly satified with the coin's decisions, as it took us on a route past all the main sights, and never back past the same place twice. I think the coin has a future career as a tour guide.

I would rate today as another "good times", but now we are sick of walking and riding trains - so just for a change, we get 14 hours on aircraft tomorrow. Yeah. Woo.