Tokyo, Japan – Sensoji Temple and Nakamise Alley

It was now time to take my wallet full of yen and see what treasures I could find on the shopping street, Nakamise Alley. 

I saw this interesting pagoda-like sculpture but was more interested in the girl on the cell phone.  

I made my way through the crowds at the fortune telling booths to the shop area.  By habit, I moved to the right to walk down the street and found myself fighting other oncoming shoppers.  Many “excuse me, excuse me” apologies later, I was able to cross to the left side and get in with the flow.  

There were a wide variety of shops, some holding little junky things that you could buy cheap.  I didn’t check to see if they were made in China or locally.  Of course, now that I am looking at the photos I wish that I had purchased some red lanterns for my back patio area, but I can probably get them in Phoenix or online.  Too fragile to travel.  

I found a shop with things that had caught my eye, spent most of the yen just when my iPhone alarm went off.  Time to start my trek back to the tour meeting place. 

I took one last photo of some seated Buddhas and the tall pagoda.

The seating blended well with the surrounding area, nicely polished granite stones with flat tops.  

I also saw some vending machines and since I had time to enjoy a drink, and just enough yen to buy, I looked at the selections.  Hmmmm.  Tea sounded good. Nice, cold iced tea.  I put in the money and pressed the button.  The container dropped in to the bin below and I reached in for it.  Whoa!!!  It was hot, hot, hot.  Then I looked at the machine and remembered what Tour Guide Sue had told us. If the label is red, the drink is hot.  If the label is blue, the drink is cold.  Tea.  Red label = hot.  Ok, I will try it.  I also bought a cold Nectar drink.  Blue label.  Yes, it was very cold.  If you look at the photo with the two rows of drinks, you can see (very clearly, I might add) that there are red=hot and blue=cold drinks.

I moved to the designated meeting area and sat down to enjoy my hot + cold drinks.  A little boy played nearby.  I also saw a group of middle school children, enjoying each other’s company and finally posing for one of our tour members.  We also saw two hand pulled rickshaws on our way to the bus!!

This is a worthwhile stop.  You do not need tickets to enter the grounds. There are a lot of things to see and it is a great place to stop for souvenirs.  There are food vendors as well.