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Imperial Palace and Park
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The Imperial Palace was attractive and photogenic, but the experience wasn't anything special. There's something less than intimate about simply snapping photos of a place you can't get within less than a mile of with a hundred other people. However, it is a nice photo opportunity and the surrounding gardens (which aren't gardens at all, just trees) are nice for a leisurely stroll. I think the trees are fantastic. They all look like giant bonsai trees to me. And not a single one of them looks like another. They're like snowflakes, except they're green and have bark and are living things growing from the soil and you can't catch one in your mouth...but really they're just like snowflakes.
Only two things worth mentioning happened that afternoon. One, I found out the new memory card I purchased for my camera is less than stellar and I lost several of the coolest photos I took in Tokyo. One was a rainbow arching from a statue across a giant fountain and ending on Lindsey like she was a pot of gold (which she is). The worst part is that my camera recorded the thumbnail, I just couldn't open the picture. So I can see the tiny, amazing picture, but it will never be bigger than an inch square. So that didn't make me very happy. But the second thing did.
We were walking in the gardens (which aren't gardens at all) and a man approached us and engaged us in conversation. He started with polite small talk in broken English, then told us (told Lindsey, actually Lindsey's breasts, but I was standing there) he told us he knew of a great photo opportunity. I assumed it was in his van or his basement apartment or some other compromising location (I'm a cynic), but he actually led us just a few feet away and pointed at the Palace that was visible through some fall foliage and made a really nice photo. As I prepared to take the picture we both realized that a van parked on the side of the road was obstructing the shot. We thanked him anyway and I took a few photos just to appease him. But as I did this (only in Japan would this happen), the stranger approached the van and started speaking to the driver who was probably taking a nice afternoon nap. He clearly explained the situation (some Americans need a photo and you're in the way in your own country). Then the strangest thing happened. The van's engine started and the van pulled forward. But it didn't go just the 10 feet we needed so we could have an unobstructed view of the palace, but it drove off entirely. The guy has a nice spot picked out, but he left and drove somewhere new because he was in our line of sight. I imagined trying this in El Paso and the thorough stabbing that one would receive. It made me smile. The man actually showed us another spot that provided a nice photo and then walked away smiling.
One of my favorite things to say is that I hate people (and I stand by that statment), but there are plenty of people out there that make me rethink my indiscriminate loathing. That's nice. After the palace we had one more stop, then we would be done with Tokyo. We had to get back to the Park Hyatt. I wanted to see Tokyo at night. More thumbnails ...
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| 9. | Imperial Palace and Park - Tokyo, Japan Nov 13, 2006 (  27 ) |
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