A few impressions from Ueno Park, my first destination of the day.
The weather was still very “early spring”. As such, there was not much evidence of the blossoms and colors for which the park is famous. The cherry blossoms in particular were barely visible, apart from a few isolated early bloomers.
So I didn’t spend a long time in the park and also didn’t bother to visit the zoo. Apart from the panda bears, I didn’t find it that interesting. There is “bear” merchandise on every street corner. In the Ueno station, you can find a huge panda statue, and the main bridge over the tracks is called “Panda Bridge”. The Japanese’s infatuation with the two black and white bamboo eaters was only surpassed by their obsession with cherry blossoms. Of course, I was hoping that I would be able to see the Sakura 桜 towards the end of my holiday in Ueno Park.
So I quickly went to the Benten-dō, because I was more interested in temples. In the main hall, I was able to witness a small ceremony. In contrast to the Sensō-ji in Asakusa, which I wanted to visit later in the day, the atmosphere here was calm and meditative. There weren’t many tourists around either. The location in the middle of the Shinobazu pond is magical. I’m looking forward to coming to this place again when everything is blooming and green. On the way, I noticed a few museums and made a few mental notes in case I had to survive a rainy day. The Japanese National Museum and the Science Museum in particular sounded exciting. On the tour around the small lake, I also booked a ticket for the Sky Tree a few days later.
Of course, I also took a few pictures 🙂