~TOKYO~

Boxing Day - Epson Aqua Stadium, GE999 Rollercoaster, and Shinjuku

Now that my exams are over, I can continue recounting the tale of my happy festive season, and this tale is the best because it involves penguins. Lots of penguins.



We awoke on Boxing Day to torrential rain. In Japan, if it's raining in the morning, it's not going to stop that day. But luckily our hotel was well-equipped with distractions, and all indoors, too. So, after lunch, we headed to the Epson Aqua Stadium, where, obviously, we saw the penguins :)











We got there just at Feeding Time, where one little penguin misbehaved and went !steal! quite a lot...





... And another silly penguin decided to pick up the stones with his beak, and make another pile of stones at the other side. Except it took about 10 attempts each time to actually pick up the stone without dropping it, and so his new pile didn't seem to grow very quickly.





As well as penguins, there were some other weird and downright terrifying creatures to be seen. And some clever ones. Those were the dolphins, which we didn't get any good pictures of, because they jumped and danced too quickly.







I don't like lobsters very much...



Or giant mutant crabs...





... THIS big...



After that I headed excitedly to the Galaxy Express 999 rollercoaster, which I enjoyed very much.



We then had dinner at a posh Italian restaurant in the hotel, before heading out to brave the rain and meet up with Tomi in Shinjuku.



First we headed to the Skyscraper District, where all the tall government buildings live. It was still pouring, and a mysterious-looking mist enveloped everything, meaning that we couldn't see right to the top. But it looked cool.



We then went on to an izakaya (pub) in the middle of the flashy-lighty district for some drinks, and to dry off for a bit.





After that we wandered a bit more, ducking into subway passages to avoid the rain, getting soaked, but it was fun :)



Dave and Tomi at the station :)

We then headed back to Shinagawa, where a full thunder and lightning storm had taken force, as we desperately tried to find a convenience store in order to buy breakfast for the next day.





Eventually, Mr Penguin found one for us!



Me and my silly hood in the sheltery maze of footbridges that we found.



Eventually, we made it back to the hotel, where we watched the thunderstorm (which went on for nearly an hour) from the safety of our 24th storey hotel room. Mm.