Well I am on the bullet train, and wrote an entire blog post for the internet not to save, and lost the entire thing as I was done. So here it goes again.
This morning we woke up in our Airbnb, were Lola didn’t have a great sleep, but the rest seemed too enjoy the accommodations. Lola started a load of laundry in hopes it would be done when they got back for the day. We got ready for the day and headed to Denny’s just down the street for breakfast. The food was breakfast, but B really enjoyed her French toast. She was the first one to be done, which never happens.
After breakfast we headed a short walk to the metro station to get tickets and head to a different part of Tokyo for the day. As we arrived at the area, we were pretty early and Lola suggested going to Tokyo Tower before our reservation at 10 for TeamLab. Without doing much research this seemed like a great idea, but once we bought tickets and headed up the elevators, our time really started to shrink. Maybe we shouldn’t have bought the tickets to go all the way to the top. We rushed around the main deck, took a few photos and then went straight to the elevator to go to the top.
Once in the elevator we got off and was forced to take a photo then walked around the middle of the elevator shaft to get to another elevator. We were like this is weird as we did not get to walk all the way around. Once we got to the next elevator, we realized we weren’t at the top, and we went up the next elevator. At the top, we explored the different views as fast as we could and waited for the elevator down. The top was full of mirrors which was super weird.
We got in the elevator and headed down. No one is really sure how many elevators we went on to get down but we think at least 2 but maybe 3. We had 12 minutes to walk 15 minutes, so we hustled as fast as we could to get there. T was a lot slower than the rest but we finally all caught up to each other and arrived 1 minute after 10.
We were all a lot sweaty and tired from the brisk walk, but once inside forgot all about 
TeamLab: Borderless was an amazing experience where the art changes, there is no maps, and secret rooms. We loved the rooms with the mirror floors and walls as these were visually stunning. We also got to experience the Tea House within the exhibit. It was pretty neat, once you got your tea there were projections of flowers in your cup, as you picked up your cup and drank it, the pedals went all over the table, and as you put the cup back down, it showed a new flower, when there was no tea left..the projections stoped. We had to sit 3 and 3, so Lola and AA got to experience this with B.
After the tea room, MBMell looked to see what rooms we had missed, as there was no map and hard to figure out what you have seen, as the art changes.
We continued to search for a room that had a bunch of hanging lanterns, as seen in some photos online. After spending 20 minutes looking, MBM and Lola decided to ask some workers and eventually found out that the room does not exist at this location. It was then time to go and find some food to feed some hungry bellies.
DD found a highly-reviewed restaurant near the mall that we were at. The stairs to get into the restaurant would not have met code in North America since they were so steep. The restaurant was quite small but not busy. Since the tables only accommodate 4 patrons, AA and Lola sat by themselves near the others. Lola ordered a braised chicken dish which was delicious (and cold, to Lola’s surprise). AA ordered “Laksha” which is a coconut cream based curry soup with chicken. It was also delicious.
After lunch, the crew decided to go to Shibuya square to see the Tokyo-equivalent of Times Square in New York City. The station and square was VERY busy and crowded. Also nearby was the Nintendo store that DD wanted to go and visit.
The Nintendo store was overwhelming, packed with people looking at all of the different paraphernalia that exists for the different Nintendo games on the market. The kids also wanted to check out the Pokémon store which was even more busy. After spending over an hour in both stores, everyone was ready to leave (well, AA definitely was).
After we left the mall, we had trouble orienting ourselves to get back to the metro station to make our way back to our Airbnb. AA decided to go one direction and walked right to Lola’s favourite burger restaurant in the USA - Shake Shack. A pitstop was made for some shakes and an iced tea for Lola before going to the metro station and going back east towards Tokyo.
The four adults decided that they should stop at Tokyo station to purchase their Shinkansen (bullet train) tickets for their journey to Hiroshima in a couple days. Once at Tokyo station, AA found the Japan Railway ticket office and he and DD purchased their west-bound Shinkansen tickets.
Since it was nearing supper time, it was decided to find somewhere to eat at Tokyo station which has a LOT of restaurants. MBM won the lottery by finding a ramen restaurant that Lola could have some gluten free ramen. It took a few minutes to locate Tokyo Ramen Street (an actual area in Tokyo station, much to AA’s surprise). Once the restaurant was located, it was time to make their orders on a touchscreen. It took two attempts before everyone understood that you deposited your money first and then made your food and beverage selections. The tourists behind us were happy to learn what to do by watching us struggle. lol.
As we waited for our order to be filled, we came to the realization that we not only ordered 1 gluten free ramen but 4. DD was pretty disappointed that he may have to eat the GF option, not being able to compare it to their local ramen restaurant. It was decided that the kids wouldn’t really notice the difference and MBM volunteered for the remaining GF option, even though AA also said he could eat that one and someone could have the “special” ramen.
In the end, everyone was satisfied with their meals. B must have been getting tired because she started talking about anything and everything and didn’t stop for 2 hrs when we finally arrived at the Airbnb.
Everyone was pretty tired from a long day of exploring Tokyo and all of the crowds and were happy to be in their own space to relax. We came back to the washer still being full of water, so MBMell and Lola watched videos on how to use a Japanese Washer, while the kids took showers.
AA and DD went to 7-Eleven which was a short 2 mins walk down the street to get some drinks and snacks as well as some breakfast foods for the next day. The next day was going to be an earlier start to the day so that they could make their way to the Harry Potter studio tour which was about 1.25 hrs away on two subway lines.
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