A very personal Decade of Dreams tour! UPDATED 6/5 - Page 23 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
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So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
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So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Reading the sign waaay back in post #287, it looks like those unidentified "biscuits" were octopus dough balls. I'm assuming it was a savory flavor, not a sweet filling that would probably have been sweet bean paste.
I love melon soda. You can also get it as a float - delish with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
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Reading the sign waaay back in post #287, it looks like those unidentified "biscuits" were octopus dough balls. I'm assuming it was a savory flavor, not a sweet filling that would probably have been sweet bean paste.
I love melon soda. You can also get it as a float - delish with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
No, it was definitely sweet. It tasted like fig to me - that's the closest comparison I can come up with.
Tuesday 31 March – part five: watch out for Rolly!
Our next stop was an absolute must for both of us, a visit to the Sony showroom to see all the latest gadgets and it doesn’t disappoint. We saw the newest TV’s, cameras and video cameras, some of which weren’t even on the market yet anywhere in the world. You could try things out as well, such as the newest Walkmans (the sound from these was first class ) but what stole our hearts was a new invention called Rolly. Basically, it’s a small sphere that plays music and then dances to it by expanding flaps on either side and it’s so cute to watch it. I know it doesn’t sound like much from our description, but we stood there with another couple absolutely enchanted by the thing. Had it not been about £200 to buy it, I think we would’ve left with one, we were so impressed. Keep an eye out for Rolly in the future, as I have no doubt that he will be coming to a store near you one day.
Rolly - he doesn't look like much, but my goodness, he's fun! The reception area in the Sony building
We walked along to Tokyo station, when we came out of there, as I remembered reading that you could get the famous Bento boxes from shops there and I was keen to try one for dinner, but they were proving to be very elusive. I was expecting to see them everywhere, but not so far. We eventually found a 7-11 store, after trying a couple of other places with no luck, where we found some sushi for me and a box of goodies for Mark, so then it was back to the hotel.
Tokyo station
We stopped at reception to sort out the arrangements for our two trips that we’d booked. I had realised yesterday just after the office closed that it had said to call them two full days before your trip to confirm your attendance and the first trip was tomorrow night, so I got the girl on reception to call them and, as I half expected, everything was fine. I love the way that tour companies ask you to call to confirm and then it’s no big deal. It always seems to happen. She also discovered that we were due to be picked up from the bus terminal on Friday for our day trip to Mount Fuji and Hakone, so she got them to change that to the hotel, which was good of her and much easier for us.
We headed back to the room and uploaded the photos and then it was time for dinner. Let’s just say I probably did much better than Mark. My sushi was excellent and I couldn’t fault it, so much better than we get at home and what we get at home is good, don’t get me wrong. As for Mark, some of his was OK, but he did take a bite of something and his face was a picture. Sadly, I didn’t have the camera to hand to catch the expression, but it was classic.
Once we had eaten, it was time to go out again and back to Ueno Park. We headed back down on to the subway and, although it wasn’t quite as crowded as it had been this morning, it was still packed in there. It seems there are about three or four stops where it’s just murder and, after that, it’s fine. Very odd, but at least now we know and can mentally prepare ourselves for that every time we travel that way.
Outside the hotel And outside Ueno station
We got off at Ueno and made our way into the park. As we’d hoped, the displays of animals at the entrance to the park were all lit up at night and looked lovely.
Not a sight I expected to see!
But better was to come. I spotted something up a set of steps that appeared to illuminated, so we set off to find out what it was and it was a tree covered in a series of blue, red, white and yellow lights. Absolutely beautiful.
We walked over to the nearby Kiyo-mizu Hall that dates from 1631.
From there, it was down to the main walkway with all its cherry blossom trees, all lit up by thousands of lanterns. The sight in front of us was stunning and we were very glad that we had come back here to see this at night. The first section of the walkway was lovely and quiet and very romantic, but when we got to the second section, where we had seen people sitting out earlier on in the day, it was a different story.
There were some very boisterous cherry blossom viewing parties, called harumi, in full swing. Let’s just say that the smell of alcohol was very strong here and the noise was quite something. From earlier on, the difference in the various bins were noticeable as well. Earlier, they had been empty and now some of them were overflowing.
Although I felt safe there, there was the feeling that at any point it could get out of hand and that’s probably why there were so many police in a little tent there. I could imagine that clearing this place would be a lot of fun later, but as we turned to walk back down the main walkway, we found one way that they do that. The lanterns had all suddenly been turned off, which really changed the whole area, as just plain white lights were left on. I’m glad we got here when we did, as there were still some people coming into the park who would’ve missed the cherry blossom with the lanterns on, which was a real shame for them.
As we left, we couldn’t help but think that we had been lucky and very honoured to experience sakura, a real Japanese tradition and to see the Japanese holding these parties was quite something. We both felt very glad we had taken the trouble to come over here.
It was back on the subway and back to the hotel and fortunately, we were able to get a seat as we boarded. Once again, it got very busy at the same area as before, so I guess that’s the way it is. The subway is very much a no no when it comes to cell phones. There are signs everywhere telling you not to use them and people don’t, although they do seem to spend a lot of their journeys text messaging, but at least that’s not distracting to other people.
We made it back to the hotel and uploaded our photos, with Mark finding one of the game shows that the Japanese are so well known for. As usual, it was completely bizarre, but at least we could get the idea without understanding any Japanese. From what I saw of it, in between a bath and lounging around in my yakata, it looked like a lot of fun.
Today we walked 5.21 miles The weather today was dry for the most part, with a few spots of rain in the morning and some sun later on and temperatures in the 50’s. The best thing today was the Senso-ji Temple. The worst thing today was how crowded it was around the temple and market. The funniest thing today was “low bridge, low bridge”! Today we tried visiting the Hama-riju Gardens And the result was it was beautiful and very peaceful. The most magical moment today was seeing the cherry blossom at Ueno Park and experiencing the cherry blossom parties.
Cheryl, I'm glad you and Mark got to see the Cherry Blossom Parties at night time all lit up with the lanterns. The pictures are beautiful with all of the lights in the park. Can't wait for your next installment.
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Okay, what is a Bento box?? Did you see many people wearing those face masks?? And last, but most important question: How many of those adult movies did you sit in?
I just love your updates! The pictures are wonderful. I don't think I could handle the squishing into the subway. Guess I'd just have to suck it up though
The Sony place would have been so interesting! It looks like Mark really enjoyed himself in there. In the one picture he is looking at what looks like a cell phone or PDA, and the man next to him is playing with a small white thing that looks like a palmtop computer? I think I would have had my head in the clouds in that store too!
The blossoms lit up by the lanterns are so beautiful in your pictures that I suspect the photos don't show all the REAL beauty that your eyes and senses experienced that evening (I don't mean that your photography is lacking, on the contrary, I think it is superb. A picture can show what your eyes saw, but it cannot show the feelings, sounds, and smells that you experienced. Does that make sense?)
The "Animals in Lights" are amazing!
Beautiful pictures once again Cheryl - there really is a totally different feel from day to night, I loved the Cherry Blossoms with the lanterns....and the lit up animals and trees - gorgous.
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I must admit that thought did cross my mind when we first came across the duck hunting... 
) but what stole our hearts was a new invention called Rolly. Basically, it’s a small sphere that plays music and then dances to it by expanding flaps on either side and it’s so cute to watch it. I know it doesn’t sound like much from our description, but we stood there with another couple absolutely enchanted by the thing. Had it not been about £200 to buy it, I think we would’ve left with one, we were so impressed. Keep an eye out for Rolly in the future, as I have no doubt that he will be coming to a store near you one day. 
Claytrgtshooter (Minnie Lor's Hubbie)
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