Let's Take A Train Ride ...Again.

Just to do something a bit different we decided to take a tip to the Eastern Tama area which is just outside Tokyo to the west. Yes to the west; Tama is to the west but we went to it's east ...

It's a subway ride from Ueno on the Yamanote line to Tokyo station and then on to the Chuo line (Rapid Service) to Tachiwara. We thought we had to exit the subway at Tokyo station and buy a ticket for a JR line - a train ticket. Well no, that was where we made a slight error so that we only had a 190 Yen ticket which payed for the Yamanote subway - hope you are keeping up; there will be questions later ... Not to worry because there are Fare Adjustment machines; insert the ticket you have when you get where you want to be and pay the difference - no fuss; no drama.

At Tachiwara we caught the monorail to Takahata Fudo and then walked to the Takahata Fudoson temple where we wandered around the various buildings. Very peaceful and well used; it's always a surprise to step of a busy road into a quiet oasis.

Hunger began to gnaw and restaurants/cafes/eateries abound almost everywhere to sate said gnaw.

The eatery was inside the Keio Rail Station - not the JR Monorail we'd arrived by - so we took pot-luck to Fuchu to visit Ookunitama jinga shrine. This is one of, if not the, oldest of the Shinto shrines in the Tokyo area. Fuchu has a tree-lined street leading to the main gate of the shrine. The trees are huge and give the immediate area a really pleasant atmosphere.

Mid afternoon means coffee - air conditioned comfort and a little rest.

Time to head back to Tokyo. The Keio line took us back to Shinjuku but we made a silly mistake with the ticket so had to use the Fare Adjustment machine when we got there. A packed station didn't seem at all claustrophobic mainly because people don't push and shove or shout at each other. The last leg for the day meant the Yamanote line from Shinjuku to Ueno - packed train but air conditioned and quiet.

Home at last! I'll leave the next bit to your imagination ...