What's Next?: The Georges in Tokyo: Ueno Park Zoo and the Tokyo Dome!

Thursday we awoke early and had some coffee and/or tea and breakfast. It was going to be a busy day. It looked to be a bit drizzly, so we put on our rain gear and decided to head out to Ueno Park and see the zoo there. Then, that evening, the plan was to head over to the Tokyo Dome and catch a baseball game. Christina's family had been to Ueno Park a couple of weeks earlier when the Cherry Blossoms were bursting and said it was amazing. She also said people were packed in to see them all and literally camped out to get good spots!

Just love this one for SO many reasons!
On the subway again!

We made our way down through the streets of houses and businesses scattered here and there to Azabu-Juban Station. Again, Jack, our subway expert, told us where we would be headed, where to get off and switch trains, and what stop we needed to get out at.

When we arrived at the Ueno Park Station, you could tell right away that this was a beautiful place. Although it was completely different than Central Park in New York, it had the same kind of feel to it. I liked it! One thing that we noticed on our way to the zoo, was that there were tarps set up off to the sides in some areas for the homeless (something we had yet to see in Tokyo).

At the zoo, we paid for our admission through a kiosk and headed in. First on our list to visit: Pandas! So cute and cool! The zoo was very clean and modern and the kids had a blast. Somewhere around lunchtime, Elliott started not feeling well. He refused to eat and even felt warm. :( Poor little guy. Adam and I ended up staying with him while he slept in my arms and the others went to explore some other parts of the zoo. When he woke up, Elliott wanted to go and see the elephants again. He seemed to be feeling a bit better, but he still didn't want any food. We went to see the elephants and soon met up with the others.

Elliott looks thrilled, huh?
I loved the "old fashoned" stroller we rented, very retro!

Such cool creatures!

It's hard work to be a panda at the zoo

Spencer and the sea lions!

Elliott loved this elephant! He was SO friendly.

I love this shot! The look on Spencer and Jack's faces is priceless!

Coming right at me!

Very cool animal indeed.

We figured we'd better get back home so we could get ready for the baseball game that night. It was beginning to become apparent that Elliott had probably better sit the game out. Deb, my mother-in-law, was more than willing to stay with him that night. I was a bit worried that he might just want his mama, but she insisted. We left Elliott and Deb behind. Elliott pretty much slept the entire time, poor little guy.

The baseball game was pretty cool. Larry found a couple of guys to take to the ballgame in the place of Deb and Elliott, however, the "big guys" soon found out they could have used the extra space in the bleachers because the seats were designed for people of "small stature" NOT Larry and Adam, for sure! ;) They managed, though.

Tokyo Dome!

Players taking the field.

The food at the game was very different from American ball game food, for example, I think we sampled the chicken on a stick, fried octopus (in a ball shape) and noodles. One perk Adam enjoyed was that our tickets came with two free beers and a beef stick. I don't know what was in the "beef stick", but even Adam and Spencer didn't like them! (So you can imagine how bad they had to have been!)

The fans were pretty hilarious: Neither team that played called The Tokyo Dome their home field, but each team brought in whole sections of bleachers that had on spirit clothing, instruments and noise makers. They had whole songs/cheers that they did in unison only when their team was up-no booing here!

The Fighters' Cheering Section

The Marines' Cheering Section

Also, another interesting quirk were the "beer girls" They were quite funny to watch. Each girl had a different brand of beer in a small keg on their back. The girls wore different brightly colored outfits (with ridiculously placed ball caps on their heads) depending on the brand they were selling. At the beginning of the game they must have had one heck of a pep talk, because they were all so peppy and bubbly, but towards the end of the night, they were SO sweaty and gross from running up and down the bleachers with the kegs of beer strapped to their backs. Hard work for sure! Bummed I didn't snap a shot of them!