During last week another birthday crept up on me and so my son planned, for Sunday (my next day off ) a day that I will always, Alzheimer’s free, remember.
The day kicked off at about 10:40 when he came to the school and collected me. We quickly set off for Koenji station, which I happen to know quite well as it is where I am seen regularly by residents of and visitors to Koenji. Our destination was Maihama, the station used to get to Tokyo Disneyland. We firstly took the Sobu line to Nakano where we switched to the Chuo rapid line for Tokyo. On arrival at Tokyo station we had quite along walk to the Keiyo line but were soon heading for our destination.
Our travel time was much quicker than estimated as our connections had been almost perfect so when we arrived at Maihama we decided to have lunch, after which we strolled through the local shopping centre. At 2pm we were picked up and whisked off to “Helicopter Cruising” where we were welcomed by some friendly heliport staff. The waiting room had a great view of Tokyo Disneyland and a self service drink bar. I tried some cold brown rice tea for the first time and liked it a lot. I was also given a bottle of champagne and a heart shaped flower bowl in which there was a red rose with an amethyst stone (my birth stone). Amazing!
Prior to 3pm we were cleared by security and with another 8 passengers boarded a helicopter for a 15 minute trip flying over Roppongi, Ginza, Ueno etc. I took numerous photographs although those of the Imperial Palace and Ueno Park, where I often go to exhibitions in the various museums that are located there. I will really treasure.
On arriving back at the heliport we had a photograph taken with one of the helicopters, then soon after buying a few souvenirs we headed back to Tokyo station. The day had not yet come to an end as a reservation (which needed to be booked a month in advance) had been made at a very popular restaurant in the Tokyo Midtown Building (Tokyo’s tallest) so as we had some time to kill we went to Hamamatsu Cho and took a casual walk to Zojoji Temple (my favourite) where we prayed, and then we walked under Tokyo Tower which we had looked down on an hour or so beforehand and now we were looking up at its 333 metre pinnacle. Continuing our walk we noticed the well protected Russian Embassy and the apartment building that I lived in some 20 odd years ago in Azabu Nagasaka Cho. Once we reached Roppongi we looked for a coffee shop and found one close to where we were going to have dinner. Not long after arriving there we were shaken by another earthquake – there was one on Saturday night too and as I wrote this posting we had yet another.
We arrived at the restaurant on time and I was surprised to see a sign that said that they were fully booked. What wonderful advertising. It was an Italian restaurant and the meal unbelievably delicious, in particular the oil and chilli sauce accompaniment.
The day was complete when I arrived home in time to watch American Idol, one of my favourite TV shows after which I almost immediately took a shower and was sound asleep in seconds.
sounds like fun…I’ve always wanted to take a ride on a helicopter and flying over Tokyo must have been quite remarkable. I can only imagine NY and Las Vegas being more impressive.
Adrian
Thanks for your comments Adrian. Yes it was sensational. Years ago I used some airline reward points to take a helicopter flight from Newark aiport into Manhattan and it was superb but this flight was so very special.
Ken SSE Koenji